The Second Book of Maccabees

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 4 -

Onias has recourse to the king. The ambition and wickedness of Jason and Menelaus. Onias is treacherously murdered.

But the aforementioned Simon, who was a betrayer of the money and of his nation, spoke evil about Onias, as if he had instigated Heliodorus to do these things and as if he had been the inciter of evils.

And he dared to say that he was a traitor to the kingdom, though he provided for the city, and defended his people, and was zealous for the law of God.

But when the hostilities had proceeded to such an extent that even murders were committed by certain close associates of Simon,

Onias, considering the peril of this contention, and Apollonius to be mad, though he was governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, which only augmented the malice of Simon, he brought himself before the king,

not so as to be an accuser of a citizen, but in view of his own consideration for the common good of the entire multitude.

For he saw that, without royal providence, it would be impossible to provide peace to events, nor would Simon ever cease from his foolishness.

But after the life of Seleucus expired, when Antiochus, who was called the illustrious, had assumed the kingdom, Jason, the brother of Onias, was ambitious for the high priesthood.

He went to the king, promising him three hundred and sixty talents of silver, and from other revenues eighty talents,

and beyond these, he promised also one hundred and fifty more, if he would be granted the authority to establish a sports arena, and a school for boys, and to enroll those who were at Jerusalem as Antiochians.(a)

When the king had assented, and he had obtained the leadership, he immediately began to transfer his subjects to the rituals of the heathens.(b)

And taking away those things that had been established by the kings, by reason of the humanitarianism of the Jews, through John, the father of Eupolemus, who formed a friendship and alliance with the Romans, he discharged the legitimate legislations, voiding the oaths of the citizens, and he sanctioned depraved customs.(c)

For he even had the audacity to set up, below the very stronghold, a sports arena, and to place all of the best adolescent boys in brothels.

Now this was not the beginning, but a certain increase and progression of heathenism and foreign practices, due to the nefarious and unheard of wickedness of the impious non-priest Jason,(d)

so much so that now the priests were not devoted to the concerns of services at the altar, but, despising the temple and neglecting the sacrifices, they hurried to become participants of the wrestling school, and of its prohibited injustices, and of the training of the discus.

And, even holding the honors of their fathers to be nothing, they esteemed the glories of the Greeks as best.

For the sake of these, they held a dangerous competition, and were imitators of their practices, and so, in all things, they desired to be similar to those who had been their enemies and destroyers.

But acting impiously against the divine laws does not go unpunished, as these subsequent events will reveal.

But when the competition that was celebrated every fifth year was at Tyre, the king being present,(e)

the villainous Jason sent sinful men from Jerusalem, carrying three hundred didrachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules. But those who transported it asked that it might not be paid out for the sacrifices, because it was not needed, but might be used for other expenses.(f)

So, even though this was offered by him who sent it for the sacrifice of Hercules, it was instead given over to the manufacture of Greek warships, because of those presenting it.(g)

Then Apollonius, the son of Menestheus, was sent into Egypt because of the nobles of king Philometor of Ptolemy. But when Antiochus realized that he had been effectively alienated from the affairs of the kingdom, consulting his own interests, he started out from there and came to Joppa, and from there to Jerusalem.

And he was received magnificently by Jason and the city, and he entered with the lights of little torches and with praises. And from there he turned back with his army to Phoenicia.

And, after three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of the above mentioned Simon, carrying money to the king, and bearing responses about essential matters.

And he, being recommended to the king, when he had magnified the appearance of his power, usurped the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

And so, having received orders from the king, he returned, holding nothing at all worthy of the priesthood, in truth, having the soul of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a wild beast.

And indeed, Jason, who had taken captive his own brother, was himself deceived, and was expelled to become a fugitive in the region of the Ammonites.

Then Menelaus, indeed, obtained the principality, but truly, concerning the money that he had promised to the king, nothing was done. Although Sostratus, who was first over the stronghold, attempted to collect it,

since the collection of certain taxes pertained to him. For this reason, they were both called before the king.

And Menelaus was removed from the priesthood, being succeeded by Lysimachus, his brother. Then Sostratus was appointed over the Cyprians.

And while these things were occurring, it happened that those from Tarsus and Mallus incited a sedition, because they had been given as a gift to Antiochidi, the concubine of the king.

And so, the king hurried to come and calm them, leaving behind Andronicus, one of his associates, as his deputy.

Then Menelaus, believing that he had reached an opportune time, having stolen certain gold vessels out of the temple, gave them to Andronicus, along with others he had gained at Tyre and throughout the neighboring cities.(h)

But when Onias had realized this with certainty, he accused him, keeping himself in a safe place at Antioch beside Daphne.

Meanwhile, Menelaus met with Andronicus, asking him to execute Onias. So he then went to Onias, and he gave him his right hand with an oath, and, even though he was suspicious of him, he persuaded him to venture out of asylum, and he immediately killed him, with no respect for justice.

For this reason, not only the Jews, but also the other nations, were indignant and bore much grief for the unjust killing of so great a man.

But when the king returned from the places of Cilicia, the Jews at Antioch, and similarly the Greeks, went to him, complaining of the iniquitous killing of Onias.

And so Antiochus was grieved in his mind because of Onias, and, being moved to compassion, he shed tears, remembering the sobriety and modesty of the deceased.

And, being inflamed in soul, he ordered the purple to be torn from Andronicus, and that he be led around, throughout the entire city, and that, in the same place where he had committed the impiety against Onias, the sacrilegious man should be deprived of his life, as his fitting punishment rendered by the Lord.

But when many sacrileges were committed by Lysimachus in the temple through the counsel of Menelaus, and the news was divulged, the multitude gathered together against Lysimachus, though a great quantity of gold had been exported already.

But when the multitude stirred up an insurrection, and their minds were filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand, who began to act with hands of iniquity. A certain tyrant was their leader, a man advanced both in age and in madness.

But when they perceived the attempt of Lysimachus, some took hold of stones, others strong clubs, and, in truth, certain ones threw ashes upon Lysimachus.

And indeed, many were wounded, and some were struck down; however, all were put to flight. And, as for the sacrilegious man, they executed him beside the treasury.

Therefore, about these things, a judgment began to be stirred up against Menelaus.

And when the king had arrived at Tyre, three men were sent from the elders to bring the matter to him.

But when Menelaus was overcome, he promised to give much money to Ptolemy to persuade the king.(i)

And so, Ptolemy went to the king in a certain court where he was, as if merely to refresh himself, and he influenced him away from the sentence.

And so Menelaus, though indeed guilty of all malice, was absolved of the crimes. Moreover, these pitiable men, who, even if they had pleaded their case before Scythians, would have been judged innocent, he condemned to death.

Therefore, those who brought the case on behalf of the city, and the people, and the sacred vessels were quickly given an unjust punishment.

For this reason, even the Tyrians, being indignant, proved to be very liberal toward their burial.(j)

Thus, because of the greed of those who were in power, Menelaus remained in authority, increasing in malice, to the betrayal of the citizens.

Footnotes

(a)4:9 If they were enrolled as Antiochians, then their taxes would go to whomever received the tax revenues for Antioch, and also they would fall under the laws and authority of the leader of Antioch.(Conte)

(b)4:10 The word ‘Gentilem’ can refer to Gentiles (non-Jews), or to heathens (the irreligious or non-religious). In an eschatological interpretation, the Gentiles are any unbelievers, or those who are thoroughly immersed in sinful secular society.(Conte)

(c)4:11 The phrase ‘civium iura destituens’ refers to the oaths that citizens took to follow the laws. So he not only nullified the legitimate laws, he also voided the oaths that people took to follow those laws. This action foreshadows the decision of the Antichrist, about halfway through he reign of nearly seven years, to sanction the perverse institutions and practices of severe heretics and apostates from out of the Christian faith. He then makes this perverse revision of Christianity legal, with the true Faith being still illegal.(Conte)

(d)4:13 Jason is not a true priest, according to Sacred Scripture, but he claims to be one. This foreshadows those, during the time of the Antichrist, who will claim to be priests, but whose ordination will not be valid (either because they are women, or were ordained by women, or were otherwise ordained by someone not validly ordained themselves). Such invalidly ordained so-called priests will be involved in the abomination of desolation, which is an invalid Eucharist, a perverse imitation of that Most Blessed Sacrament.(Conte)

(e)4:18 The Olympics of ancient times were kept every fourth year, by the way that we count events. But the ancients counted the year of the event as the first year, the three following years as years two, three, and four, and the year of the next games as the fifth year. So they called it every fifth year (as Flavius Josephus recounts), but by our count it is every four years.(Conte)

(f)4:19 A didrachma is a single coin worth two drachmas or one half shekel (the temple tax). Three hundred didrachmas equals one hundred fifty shekels. Total weight of 300 didrachmas is about 3.77 pounds or about 3.4 minas. The weight of even three hundred didrachmas is still far less than one talent of weight which is equal to 60 minas.(Conte)

(g)4:20 A trireme ship was a Greek warship moved primarily by three banks of oars.(Conte)

(h)4:32 The word ‘vendiderat’ usually means ‘sold,’ but in this context it means ‘gained’ (by means of commerce).(Conte)

(i)4:45 Ptolemee:The son of Dorymenus, a favourite of the king.(Challoner)

(j)4:49 The Tyrians were wealthy merchants, interested in money and commerce, but not usually very interested in religion. Even these men were offended by this injustice, and they came forward, publicly showing their indignation by offering money for an expensive and lavish funeral.(Conte)

Onias has recourse to the king. The ambition and wickedness of Jason and Menelaus. Onias is treacherously murdered.

The previously mentioned Simon, who had given information about the money against his country, slandered Onias, saying that it was he who had incited Heliodorus and had been the real cause of these evils.

He dared to call him a conspirator against the state who was actually the benefactor of the city, the guardian of his fellow countrymen, and a zealot for the laws.

When his hatred grew so great that even murders were perpetrated through one of Simon’s approved agents,

Onias, seeing the danger of the contention, and that (a)Apollonius the son of Menestheus, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, was increasing Simon’s malice,

appealed to the king, not to be an accuser of his fellow-citizens, but looking to the good of all the(b) people, both public and private;

for he saw that without the king’s involvement it was impossible for the state to obtain peace any more, and that Simon would not cease from his madness.

When Seleucus was deceased, and Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, succeeded to the kingdom, Jason the brother of Onias supplanted his brother in the high priesthood,

having promised to the king at an audience three hundred sixty talents of silver, and out of another fund eighty talents.

In addition to this, he undertook to assign one hundred fifty more, if it might be allowed him (c)through the king’s authority to set him up a gymnasium and a body of youths to be trained in it, and to register the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch.

When the king had assented, and Jason had taken possession of the office, he immediately shifted those of his own race to the Greek way of life.

Setting aside the royal ordinances of special favor to the Jews, granted by the means of John the father of Eupolemus, who went on the mission to the Romans to establish friendship and alliance, and seeking to overthrow the lawful ways of living, he brought in new customs forbidden by the law.

For he eagerly established a gymnasium under the citadel itself, and caused the noblest of the young men to wear the Greek hat.

Thus there was an extreme of hellenization, and an advance of a foreign religion, by reason of the exceeding profaneness of Jason, who was an ungodly man and not a high priest;

so that the priests had no more any zeal for the services of the altar; but despising the sanctuary and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to enjoy that which was unlawfully provided in the wrestling arena, after the summons to the discus-throwing.

They despised the honors of their fathers, and valued the prestige of the Greeks best of all.

For this reason, severe calamity overtook them. The men whose ways of living they earnestly followed, and to whom they desired to be made like in all things, these became their enemies and punished them.

For it is not a light thing to show irreverence to God’s laws, but later events will make this clear.

Now when certain games that came every fifth year were kept at Tyre, and the king was present,

the vile Jason sent sacred envoys,(d) as being Antiochians of Jerusalem, bearing three hundred drachmas of silver to the sacrifice of Hercules, which even the bearers thereof thought not right to use for any sacrifice, because it was not fit, but to spend it for another purpose.

Although the intended purpose of the sender this money was for the sacrifice of Hercules, yet on account of (e)present circumstances it went to the construction of trireme warships.

Now when Apollonius the son of Menestheus was sent into Egypt for the (f) enthronement of Philometor as king, Antiochus, learning that Philometor had shown himself hostile toward the government, took precautions for the security of his realm. Therefore, going to Joppa, he travelled on to Jerusalem.

Being magnificently received by Jason and the city, he was brought in with torches and shouting. Then he led his army down into Phoenicia.

Now after a space of three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the previously mentioned Simon’s brother, to carry the money to the king, and to make reports concerning some necessary matters.

But he being commended to the king, and having been glorified by the display of his authority, secured the high priesthood for himself, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver.

After receiving the royal mandates, he returned bringing nothing worthy of the high priesthood, but having the passion of a cruel tyrant and the rage of a savage animal.

So Jason, who had supplanted his own brother, was supplanted by another and driven as a fugitive into the country of the Ammonites,

Menelaus had possession of the office; but of the money that had been promised to the king nothing was regularly paid, even though Sostratus the governor of the citadel demanded it—

for his job was the gathering of the revenues—so they were both called by the king to his presence.

Menelaus left his own brother Lysimachus for his(g) deputy in the high priesthood; and Sostratus left Crates, who was over the Cyprians.

Now while this was the state of things, it came to pass that the people of Tarsus and Mallus revolted because they were to be given as a present to Antiochis, the king’s concubine.

The king therefore quickly came to settle matters, leaving for his (h)deputy Andronicus, a man of high rank.

Then Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a favorable opportunity, presented to Andronicus certain vessels of gold belonging to the temple, which he had stolen. He had already sold others into Tyre and the neighboring cities.

When Onias had sure knowledge of this, he sharply reproved him, having withdrawn himself into a sanctuary at Daphne, that lies by Antioch.

Therefore Menelaus, taking Andronicus aside, asked him to kill Onias. Coming to Onias, and being persuaded to use treachery, and being received as a friend, Andronicus gave him his right hand with oaths and, though he was suspicious, persuaded him to come out of the sanctuary. Then, with no regard for justice, he immediately put him to death.

For this reason not only Jews, but many also of the other nations, had indignation and displeasure at the unjust murder of the man.

And when the king had come back from the places in Cilicia, the Jews who were in the city appealed to him against Andronicus (the Greeks also joining with them in hatred of the wickedness), urging that Onias had been wrongfully slain.

Antiochus therefore was heartily sorry, and was moved to pity, and wept, because of the sober and well ordered life of him who was dead.

Being inflamed with anger, he immediately stripped off Andronicus’s purple robe, and tore off his under garments, and when he had led him round through the whole city to that very place where he had committed the outrage against Onias, there he put the murderer out of the way, the Lord rendering to him the punishment he had deserved.

Now when many sacrileges had been committed in the city by Lysimachus with the consent of Menelaus, and when the report of them had spread abroad outside, the people gathered themselves together against Lysimachus, after many vessels of gold had already been stolen.

When the multitudes were rising against him and were filled with anger, Lysimachus armed about three thousand men, and with unrighteous violence began the attack under the leadership of Hauran, a man far gone in years and no less also in folly.

But when they perceived the assault of Lysimachus, some caught up stones, others logs of wood, and some took handfuls of the ashes that lay near, and they flung them all in wild confusion at Lysimachus and those who were with him.

As a result, they wounded many of them, they killed some, and they forced the rest of them to flee, but the author of the sacrilege himself they killed beside the treasury.

But about these matters, there was an accusation laid against Menelaus.

When the king had come to Tyre, the three men who were sent by the senate pleaded the cause before him.

But Menelaus, seeing himself now defeated, promised much money to Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, that he might win over the king.

Therefore Ptolemy taking the king aside into a cloister, as if to get some fresh air, convinced him to change his mind.

He who was the cause of all the evil, Menelaus, he discharged from the accusations; but these hapless men, who, if they had pleaded even before Scythians, would have been discharged uncondemned, them he sentenced to death.

Those who were spokesmen for the city and the families of Israel and the holy vessels soon suffered that unrighteous penalty.

Therefore even certain Tyrians, moved with hatred of the wickedness, provided magnificently for their burial.

But Menelaus, through the covetous dealings of those who were in power, remained still in his office, growing in wickedness, established as a great conspirator against his fellow-citizens.

Footnotes

(a)4:4 Compare 2 Maccabees 4:21 . See also 2 Maccabees 3:5 . The Greek as commonly read means Apollonius, asbeing the governor...Phoenicia, did rage, and increase etc.

(b)4:5 Gr. multitude.

(d)4:19 See ver. 9.

(e)4:20 Some authorities read the bearers.

(f)4:21 The exact meaning of the Greek word is uncertain.

(g)4:29 Gr. successor.

(h)4:31 Gr. successor.