Nicanor’s Day

As he was about to enter the royal house of his ancestors, the army seized King Antiochus and Lysias to bring them to him. When Demetrius heard of it, he said, “Don’t show me their faces!”

So the army killed them, and Demetrius sat on the throne of his kingdom.

2 Maccabees says that three years later news came to Judas and his men. Demetrius had sailed into the harbor of Tripolis with a mighty army and a fleet. He had done away with Antiochus and his guardian Lysias and taken the country.

They spoke against the people to the king. “Judas and his family have wiped out all your friends,” they said, “and scattered us from our own land. Now send a man you can trust. Let him go and see all the harm Judas has done to us and to the king’s country, and how he has punished them and everyone who helped them.”

So the king chose Bacchides, one of his friends, who ruled the country beyond the river. Bacchides was a great man in the kingdom and faithful to the king. The king sent him with that ungodly Alcimus, whom he made high priest, and ordered him to take revenge on the people of Israel.

They marched off and came into the land of Judah with a great army. Messengers came to Judas and his family with words of peace, but the words were a trick. Judas and his family paid them no attention, because they could see the great army that had come.

A group of scribes gathered before Alcimus and Bacchides to ask for fair terms. The Hasidaeans were the first in Israel to ask them for peace. “A priest descended from Aaron has come with the army,” they said. “He won’t do us any wrong.”

All the people were filled with fear and dread of them. “There’s no truth and no justice in them,” they said. “They have broken the covenant and the oath they swore.”

Bacchides left Jerusalem and camped at Bezeth. He sent men and seized many of the deserters who were with him, and some of the people, and he killed them, throwing them into a large pit.

He put Alcimus in charge of the country and left troops with him to support him. Then Bacchides went away to the king.

Judas saw all the wrongs Alcimus and his men had done among the people of Israel, even more than the Gentiles had done. He went out all through the land of Judea and took revenge on the men who had deserted him, and they were kept from going out into the country.

When Alcimus saw that Judas and his men had grown strong, and knew he could not stand up to them, he went back to the king and made wicked accusations against them.

2 Maccabees tells it this way. Alcimus had been high priest before. In the days when there was no mixing with the Gentiles, he had made himself unclean of his own free will. He saw no way to be saved and no way back to the holy altar. So in about the one hundred fifty-first year he came to King Demetrius and gave him a crown of gold and a palm branch, and some of the temple’s festival olive branches too. That day he said nothing.

But he found his chance to carry his madness further when Demetrius called him into a meeting of his council. The king asked him how the Jews felt and what they meant to do. “The Jews called Hasidaeans, whose leader is Judas Maccabaeus, keep the war going and are rebels,” Alcimus answered. “They won’t let the kingdom have peace.

“That is why I have laid aside the honor of my ancestors, I mean the high priesthood, and come here. First, I truly care about the king’s concerns. Second, I care about my own people too. The reckless doings of the men I spoke of have brought great trouble on all our people. O king, now that you know this, think of our country and our people, with enemies all around us, and do it with the kindness you show to everyone. As long as Judas is alive, the government can never have peace.”

When Alcimus had said such things, the rest of the king’s friends at once stirred Demetrius up even more. They had ill will against Judas.

The king sent Nicanor, one of his noble princes, a man who hated Israel and was its enemy, and ordered him to destroy the people.

2 Maccabees says that Nicanor had been in charge of the elephants, and that the king at once made him governor of Judea. He sent him out with written orders to kill Judas himself, scatter his men, and set up Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.

The people in Judea who had driven Judas into exile came flocking to Nicanor. They thought the Jews’ troubles and disasters would be their own good fortune.

He came to Judas, and they greeted each other peacefully. But the enemy were ready to seize Judas by force.

Judas learned that Nicanor had come to deceive him. He was very afraid of him and would not see him again. When Nicanor found out that his plan was known, he went out to fight Judas near Capharsalama.

About five hundred men of Nicanor’s army fell, and the rest fled into the city of David.

2 Maccabees tells it differently. When the Jews heard that Nicanor was coming and that the Gentiles were attacking, they sprinkled dirt on their heads. They prayed solemnly to the one who had set up his own people forever. He always makes his presence known, and he holds up those who belong to him.

When the leader had given orders, he set out at once and met them in battle at a village called Lessau. Simon, Judas’s brother, had come up against Nicanor, but not until late. He had been held back by the sudden alarm his enemies caused.

The terms were talked over for a long time. The leader told the troops about them, and they all seemed to think alike, so they accepted the agreement. They set a day to meet on their own. A chariot came forward from each army, and seats of honor were set up.

Judas kept armed men ready in handy spots, in case the enemy suddenly tried a trick. Then they talked together, as was proper.

Nicanor stayed in Jerusalem and did nothing to cause trouble, and he sent away the crowds that had gathered. He kept Judas always by his side; he had grown deeply fond of the man. He urged him to marry and have children, and Judas married, settled down quietly, and took part in everyday life.

But Alcimus saw the goodwill between them. He got hold of the agreements they had made and went to Demetrius. He told the king that Nicanor was not loyal to the government, because Nicanor had named Judas, that plotter against the kingdom, to take his place.

The king flew into a rage, stirred up by the false charges of that most wicked man. He wrote to Nicanor and said he was not pleased with the agreements. He ordered Nicanor to send Judas to Antioch as a prisoner, as fast as he could.

When the letter came, Nicanor was confused. He was deeply troubled at the thought of breaking the agreement, since the man had done nothing wrong. But he could not go against the king, so he watched for his chance to carry out the order by a trick.

But Judas noticed that Nicanor was harsher with him and that his usual manner had changed. He understood that this harshness meant no good, so he gathered a good number of his men and hid from Nicanor.

He mocked them and laughed at them. He insulted them shamefully and spoke arrogantly. In a rage he swore, “Unless Judas and his army are handed over to me right now, I will burn down this house if I come back safely!” And he went out in a great rage.

The priests entered and stood before the altar and the temple, weeping. “You chose this house to be called by your name,” they said, “to be a house of prayer and pleading for your people. Take revenge on this man and his army, and let them fall by the sword. Remember their blasphemies, and don’t let them live any longer.”

2 Maccabees says that Nicanor found out that Judas had bravely outwitted him. Then he came to the great and holy temple while the priests were offering the usual sacrifices, and he ordered them to hand the man over. They swore that they had no idea where he was.

Then he stretched out his right hand toward the sanctuary and swore this oath: “If you won’t give Judas up to me as a prisoner, I will flatten this temple of God and break down the altar, and right here, for all to see, I will build a temple to Dionysus.”

When he had gone, the priests raised their hands toward heaven and called on the one who always fights for their nation. “O Lord of the universe,” they prayed, “you need nothing for yourself, yet you were glad for the sanctuary where you live to be set here among us. So now, O holy Lord of all holiness, this house was made clean only a short time ago. Keep it from ever being made unclean again.”

Nicanor wanted to make his ill will toward the Jews plain to see, so he sent over five hundred soldiers to seize Razis. He thought that seizing Razis would do the Jews harm.

The troops were about to take the tower. They were forcing the courtyard door and calling for fire to burn the doors down. Surrounded on every side, Razis fell on his sword to take his own life. He chose to die nobly rather than fall into the hands of those wicked men and be shamefully treated, in a way a man as noble as he was should never be treated.

But in the rush of the struggle the blow missed its mark, and the crowds were already pouring in through the door. So he ran bravely up onto the wall and threw himself bravely down among them. The crowd quickly gave way, leaving a space, and he fell into it, on his side.

Still breathing and burning with anger, he got up. Bleeding heavily and badly wounded, he ran through the crowds and stood on a steep rock. By now he had lost almost all his blood. He drew his insides out through the wound, held them in both hands, and shook them at the crowds. He called on the one who is Lord of life and spirit to restore them to him again, and so he died.

The Jews who were forced to go with him said, “Don’t destroy them so savagely and brutally. Give the day the honor it is due. The one who sees all things has honored it and made it holy above other days.”

Then that wretch, cursed three times over, asked whether there was a Ruler in heaven who had ordered the Sabbath day to be kept.

“There is the Lord,” they declared. “He is the living one, and he himself is Ruler in heaven. He told us to keep the seventh day.”

“I too am a ruler on earth,” he replied, “and I command you to take up your weapons and do the king’s business.” Even so, his cruel plan came to nothing.

In all his boasting and pride, Nicanor had made up his mind to set up a monument of total victory over Judas and everyone with him. But Judas never stopped trusting, and he hoped with all his heart for help from the Lord.

He urged his men not to fear the Gentiles’ attack, but to remember how often heaven had helped them before, and to look now for the victory that would come from the Almighty. He encouraged them with words from the Law and the Prophets, reminded them of the fights they had won, and made them more eager. When he had stirred up their courage, he gave his orders, pointing out too how faithless the Gentiles were and how they had broken their oaths.

He armed every one of them, not so much with the safety of shields and spears as with the courage that good words give. And he told them a dream worth believing, which made them all very glad.

The vision of that dream was this: Onias, he who had been high priest, a noble and good man, modest in bearing, yet gentle in manner and well-spoken, and trained from a child in all points of virtue, with outstretched hands invoking blessings on the whole body of the Jews. Then he saw a man appear, of venerable age and exceeding glory, and the dignity around him was wonderful and most majestic.

Onias answered and said, “This is the lover of the kindred, he who prays much for the people and the holy city: Jeremiah the prophet of God.”

Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and delivered to Judas a gold sword, and in giving it addressed him thus: “Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you shall strike down the adversaries.”

Judas’s words were noble and powerful, able to stir men to goodness and the young to brave courage. Encouraged by them, his men made up their minds. They would not carry on a campaign. They would charge bravely at the enemy and settle the matter hand to hand with all their courage, because the city, the sanctuary and the temple were in danger.

They feared for their wives and children, and for their families and relatives, but that mattered less to them. Their first and greatest fear was for the holy sanctuary. And the people shut inside the city were deeply troubled about the battle in the open country.

Judas prayed, “When the men who came from the king blasphemed, your angel went out among them and struck down a hundred eighty-five thousand. In the same way, crush this army in front of us today. Let all the rest know that he has spoken wickedly against your sanctuary, and judge him for his wickedness.”

In 2 Maccabees, everyone was waiting to see how it would end. The enemy had already come together for battle. The army was lined up, the elephants were placed where they would be useful, and the horsemen were spread out on both sides. Judas saw the troops, their many kinds of weapons, and the savage elephants. He held up his hands to heaven and called on the Lord who works wonders. He knew that success does not come by weapons, but that the Lord wins the victory for those he judges worthy.

“O Sovereign Lord,” he prayed, “in the time of King Hezekiah of Judea you sent your angel, and he killed as many as a hundred eighty-five thousand of Sennacherib’s army. Now, too, Ruler of the heavens, send a good angel ahead of us to bring terror and trembling. These men have come against your holy people with blasphemy. By your great strength, let them be struck with fear.”

As he finished, Nicanor and his men came forward with trumpets and victory songs, but Judas and his men met the enemy calling on God and praying.

On the thirteenth day of the month Adar, the armies met in battle. Nicanor’s army was beaten, and he himself was the first to fall.

2 Maccabees says that Judas’s men fought with their hands and prayed to God with their hearts. They killed no fewer than thirty-five thousand men, and they were overjoyed that God had shown himself.

When his army saw that Nicanor had fallen, they threw away their weapons and ran. Judas’s men chased them a day’s journey, from Adasa all the way to Gazara, sounding the alarm behind them on the signal trumpets. Men came out of all the villages of Judea nearby, closed in on them from the sides, and turned them back. They all fell by the sword. Not one of them was left.

In 2 Maccabees, when the fighting was over and they were coming back full of joy, they recognized Nicanor lying dead in his full armor. There was shouting and uproar, and they blessed the Sovereign Lord in the language of their ancestors.

2 Maccabees says the order came from Judas. In everything, body and soul, he had been the foremost champion of his fellow citizens, and all his life he kept the same goodwill toward his countrymen that he had felt when he was young. He ordered that Nicanor’s head be cut off, along with his hand and arm, and brought to Jerusalem.

When he got there, he called his countrymen together, set the priests in front of the altar, and sent for those who were in the citadel. In front of them all he showed the head of vile Nicanor, and the hand that unholy man had stretched out with proud boasts against the holy house of the Almighty. Then he cut out wicked Nicanor’s tongue and said he would give it to the birds in pieces, and hang up these rewards for his foolishness near the sanctuary.

They all looked up to heaven and blessed the Lord who had shown himself. “Blessed is he who has kept his own place from being made unclean!” they said.

He hung Nicanor’s head and shoulder from the citadel. It was a clear sign, plain for all to see, of the Lord’s help.

The people were overjoyed and kept that day as a day of great gladness. They all agreed and made it a law that the day must never pass without being honored. It must be kept every year on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (in the Syrian language it is called Adar), the day before Mordecai’s day.

So for a few days the land of Judah had rest.

Here the writer of 2 Maccabees ends his book. “That is the account of what Nicanor tried to do,” he says. “From those times on, the city has been held by the Hebrews, so I too will end my book here. If I have written well and to the point, this is what I myself wanted. If it is poor and ordinary, it is the best I could do.

“Drinking wine by itself is unpleasant, and so is drinking water by itself, but wine mixed with water tastes pleasant at once. In the same way, the shaping of the words delights the ears of those who read the story. Here is the end.”