Maccabean Revolt: How the Maccabees Beat the Seleucids

The 2nd century BCE saw the meteoric rise of a small Jewish family who were opposed to the tyranny of the Seleucid Empire and its king, Antiochus Epiphanes, a man who saw himself as a God and attempted to exterminate the religion of Judaism and its people. A Jewish man named Matthias and his five sons rebelled against this oppression and led what would become known as the Maccabean revolt, in which heroes would be born, tyrants would be overthrown, and a nation would rise again.

Antiochus IV, the King of Asia, wished to be known to his subjects as “Epiphanes,” meaning “God-Manifest.” However, after witnessing his erratic and unpredictable behavior, a new moniker stuck, “Epumanes,”—“The Mad.” Despite his potential madness, Antiochus Epiphanes was undoubtedly a powerful figure and one to be taken seriously.

In 170 BCE, when he had conquered Egypt, Antiochus turned his sights on Jerusalem once a rebellion had broken out there. While Judea was a vassal state to the sovereign Seleucid Empire, the Jewish people had long harbored resentment against the Greeks for their overbearing nature and due to a desire for independence—even though the Seleucid Empire allowed for the Jewish people to retain their cultures and religion. Interestingly, the supposed “rebellion” that Antiochus was so keen on repressing may not have even concerned him and was potentially merely infighting between the Jewish people themselves over their leadership.

Nevertheless, angered beyond measure at what he saw as disloyalty on behalf of the Jews, Antiochus marched to Jerusalem and had 10,000 of them deported before committing the unpardonable sin of entering the Holy of Holies in the Temple, a place where only the highest priests could enter. Beyond this, Antiochus then robbed the Temple and the Holy of Holies of all its gold and treasures and decreed that the rebellious Jews would now worship him as his namesake—like a God.

Unsurprisingly, the Jews reacted strongly against the decree to abandon their God to worship the madman Antiochus. The Seleucid King responded to this news even more strongly than he did to the rebellion; he decided to abandon the rules of tolerance that had long held his empire together and attempt to stamp out Judaism entirely.

In 167 BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ true depravity and cruelty became known when he captured and sacked Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Not only did he have thousands of Jerusalemites put to the sword, but he also made the practice of Judaism illegal and punishable by death. Any who practiced the religion or followed its laws like the Sabbath or circumcision were to be killed—often horribly. Crucifixion became the norm for practicing Jews, and others were burned at the stake or thrown from the city’s walls—both adults and babies. Even owning the Torah was enough to merit a death sentence; the Holy book was illegal within the walls of Jerusalem, and its copies were destroyed, the owners of the book murdered.

Antiochus Epiphanes did not stop at the early torture of Jews. He desired to snuff out the faith entirely. He desecrated the famed Temple with swine and then rededicated it to the Greek God Zeus. Epiphanes, still convinced of his deity, had people sacrifice to him in the Temple as orgies occurred within. To add further insult, Antiochus IV had a fortress built within the walls of Jerusalem called the Acra. Convinced his persecution of the Jews was successful, Antiochus installed a Greek, Menelaos, to oversee the city as he returned to Antioch to celebrate what he saw as a massive victory.

However, the cruelty of Antiochus Epiphanes, as is so common in history, had the exact opposite effect of what he desired. Instead of cowing the Jews, he strengthened them. Instead of abandoning their faith, it was emboldened.

Antiochus’ supporters attempted to force its citizens to make sacrilegious offerings to Antiochus and other Greek deities in a small village near Jerusalem. Among the citizens was a priest named Matthias, along with his five sons.

Unwilling to abandon his faith and perform the sacrifice, Matthias grew angry when another Jewish man submitted and attempted to obey the Greeks. In a fit of rage at the desecration, Matthias drew a sword and killed the offending Jewish man before cutting down Antiochus’ agent and destroying the sacrificial site.

At this point, Matthias and his sons knew that the die had been cast. They had attacked and killed agents of the King, and their revolt would not go unpunished. Fleeing to the mountains with his sons, Matthias challenged those who desired to uphold the Laws and Covenant to join them in their upcoming war against Antiochus Epiphanes and the Seleucid Empire.

While the old priest and father Matthias would soon perish, the leadership of the revolt would pass on to his third son Judah, who would quickly be given the name Judah (or Judas) “Maccabee,” (or Maccabeus). The term Maccabee would then become the moniker that came to be associated with every person who participated in the rebellion as it became more formally known as the Maccabean revolt.

The story behind the name Maccabee is unclear. Maccabee means “Hammer” and may have denoted either the weapon Judah chose to utilize to fight the Greeks or else it was simply a play on words that symbolized the way Judah smashed his enemies like a hammer in battle.

Regardless of the meaning, Judah Maccabee soon proved himself a formidable opponent. Handpicked by his father to be the leader after his death due to his courage, faith, and spirit despite being a third son, Judah wisely decided that the proper course of action would be to undertake missions of guerilla warfare against Antiochus and the Seleucid Empire as their strength increased.

As supporters of the Maccabean revolt poured into the Judean hills to bolster their numbers, Matthias’ five sons effectively took the battle to the Greeks. Their first actual test came when the Maccabean forces, still in their infancy, came across a much larger army of Syrian Greeks bolstered by Seleucids from Jerusalem.

Using surprise to their advantage, Judah and his small army of 600 men fell upon the Syrian forces at night, defeating them soundly in the Battle of the Ascent of Lebonah. Perhaps in a premonition of what was to come, Judah challenged the leader of the Syrian army, Apollonius, to single combat. Judah took up Apollonius’ sword after the Hammer had dispatched the Greek. This was the sword that Judah would carry with him for the rest of his life in the campaigns against the Seleucid Empire in a show of defiance over what had been done to his people. The rise of the Maccabees had arrived.

Emboldened by these successes, the Maccabees, under the leadership of the Maccabee himself, quickly swept aside a much larger and more dangerous Seleucid army sent to waylay them. With two critical victories under their belt, the Maccabees grew in confidence but also in importance to the Seleucid Empire—no longer would they face token forces sent to brush away an inconsequential rebellion, they would now face large and well-equipped armies led by the canny Seleucid generals, Nicanor and Gorgias.

Gorgias and Nicanor had cunningly decided not to allow Judah and the Maccabees to face them in open combat. Instead, the Seleucids planned to fall on the unsuspecting Jews at night in their camp, routing them with a cavalry charge that would not even give them time to get under guard.

However, Judah Maccabee once again outsmarted his foes. Gorgias could not find them in the mountainous region, and Judah, sensing his plan, forced his own army to continue traveling throughout the night to evade them. Choosing an opportune moment, Judah reversed the situation on Gorgias. Judah’s forces attacked and routed the third army sent to face them as the Greeks rested in their camp.

The situation for Antiochus Epiphanes and the Seleucid Empire in Judea was now dire. Antiochus had been so confident in the weakness of the Jewish revolt that he had left to campaign in Persia, leaving a viceroy, Lysias, in charge.

However, when news reached him that the Maccabees were on the warpath and had smashed three Seleucid armies, his diplomacy policy changed drastically. Instead of being Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the God King who murdered Jews and desecrated the Holy of Holies and the Temple, he devolved into being contrite and repentant to stave off the fury of the Maccabees and save his empire. Antiochus promised the Jews the free practice of religion once again and would allow them to follow their laws.

While Hellenized Jews (those who took on Greek practices) supported this proclamation and viewed the battle as won, this was not the opinion of all. Unsurprisingly, Judah “The Hammer” and the Maccabees had little time for apologies or changes of heart. Even if they accepted the deal, their lives would simply revert to what they had been before the terror—freedom to worship but always living under the thumb and sovereignty of the Seleucids.

The Maccabees rejected the offer as the war drum beat on. As for Antiochus IV Epiphanes, he suffered a brief and painful illness and died suddenly in 164 BCE. While the “God-Manifest” had perished, the war for independence continued.

With Antiochus IV Epiphanes dead and the Seleucid Empire in Palestine knocked back on its heels, the Maccabees seemed poised to finish what they had started three years prior when the old priest Matthias struck down the apostate and the Greek to begin the rebellion.

As 164 BCE progressed, this is precisely what occurred. Judah the Hammer and his forces successfully wrested Judea away from the Seleucids. He even conquered Jerusalem once again- except for the Acra fortress which withheld him with help from a strong garrison.

The conquest of Jerusalem in 164 BCE was a momentous occasion—not only for the Maccabees but for history and for the Jewish people today. When Judah saw the sorry state the Temple had fallen into during Antiochus IV’s reign of terror, his sadness was tremendous, but his resolve was greater. Judah had the Temple rededicated and the candles lit—and they stayed lit despite an oil shortage in the city. The triumph of the Maccabees and the rededication of the Temple is thus still celebrated today in the Jewish tradition of Hanukkah.

Judah and his brothers continued campaigning across Palestine, winning many victories and destroying the shrines of false deities wherever they went. Even when the Maccabees suffered defeats, all seemed to be going in their favor, and the Seleucid Empire finally did allow the Jews freedom to follow their laws as their attention turned to dealing with revolts at home in Antioch itself.

However, the powerful Seleucids would not lightly abandon their outer territories. The reconquest of Jerusalem became of the utmost importance to them, and it was carried out successfully by Judah’s old nemesis, General Nicanor.

This monumental defeat set up a final showdown between Judah and Nicanor. To end the battle swiftly, the Hammer decided that the proper course of action would be to target Nicanor himself so that he could be killed and his army would surrender. Judah successfully finished the grisly task by cutting off Nicanor’s head and arm in a symbolic gesture.

However, the days of the Seleucids allowing the Maccabees to roam free and grow comfortable in Judea were over. In 160 BCE, While Judah was attempting to negotiate with the Roman Empire for aid against the Greeks, a massive Seleucid army of over 20,000 men was bearing down on him in a bid to wrest complete control of Judea from the Jews.

The battle was called the Battle of Elasa, and it pitted the might of the Maccabees against the Seleucid commander Bacchides. Like many historical conflicts, there are several possibilities for what actually occurred. In the Biblical Book of Maccabees, regarded as a very historically accurate book, it was said that after seeing the might of the Seleucid forces ranged against them, many of the Maccabees urged Judah to withdraw from the field to fight another day as a pitched battle against such a force was hopeless.

Even though the army opposite him was far superior in number, the Hammer refused to surrender to the Greeks. Many of his followers left his side and planned to re-engage in guerilla warfare while Judah himself and his remaining soldiers—1,000 men against 20,000, were crushed. Judah himself was struck down and killed, and the leadership of the Maccabees went on to his brother Jonathan.

Other historical sources speak of a much more even battle, one in which the Maccabees were able to match the Seleucid’s man for man and were also able to field 20,000 men, along with cavalry. In this tale, Judah and the Maccabees were caught in a trap by a feigned retreat by Bacchides and suffered heavy losses. In both accounts, however, Judah the Hammer, the great savior of the Jewish people, was killed.

Despite the loss of the larger-than-life figure of the original Maccabee, the Jewish people were undaunted. The fight against the Greeks would continue under the leadership of Judah’s brothers, Jonathan and Simon.

Jonathan was known as a great negotiator, and while able to win military victories against the Seleucids, he also worked diplomatically with the kings of Syria and Egypt and was successful in gaining control over Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple once again in 153 BCE. However, the Greeks eventually captured and killed Jonathan, leaving his brother Simon in charge of the Maccabees.

“Simon the Great,” as he was known, was able to rally the Maccabean army to its full strength once again. In 141 BCE, the Maccabees could finally throw down the gates of the Acra, the fortress built by Antiochus IV Epiphanes as an insult to the Jewish people almost 30 years prior.

Simon’s autonomy grew considerably, and the Hasmonean Dynasty was born—a dynasty born from the bedrock of the Maccabean revolt. In the 130s BCE, the grandson of Simon the Great declared himself King of Judea. The Seleucids had long been diminished and were powerless to stop them. The Maccabean revolt had ended in triumph after nearly 40 years, and the dynasty would last for a century until the rise of a new scourge on the Jewish people—Herod and the Romans.