A CHANUKA POSTSCRIPT

We all have all heard the story of Yehuda the Macabee and his valiant victory over the Sleucid Greek Empire based in Damascus in the year 164 BCE. Archaeologists have found Greek inscriptions that give evidence to the decrees of Antiochus against observing some of the most essential laws of Judaism. The history of the era has also been recorded in the Book of Macabees and By Josephus Flavius. We all remember this struggle for religious and political freedom while we light the inspiring flames on the Chanuka menorah and take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate. What most people do not realize is that the miracle of Chanuka was not the end of the story. In fact one might say say that it was truly just the beginning.

Coin depicting Antiochus IV, Epiphanes

For several decades to come, the Seleucid empire continued to send immense forces and armies against the rebellious Jewish province and it it would take the Macabee brothers another another 35 years, more or less, to achieve real independence. We are talking about almost almost 40 years of ongoing fighting and battles for survival and independence, before the last remaining brother, Simon, could actually declare the country of Judah free and secure. Along the way, the Macabees won many other battles, but they also lost a few important battles as well. More than once, the Macabee brothers found salvation not through their own fighting expertise and determination, but because the internal fighting and civil wars within the Seleucid kingdom often distracted the main force of their army before it could clinch a victory. Some would call it the hand of God.

One such battle, that the Macabees lost, took place just a short distance from where I live in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. We live along the upper plateau of a narrow ridge of mountains that stretches from the Southern Arad plain up through the middle of the country towards the city of Shechem. The cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hevron, are marked on the contour map below, and the exaggerated ridge of the Judean mountains is shown in green. Gush Etzion and the site of the battle in question are located just south of the city of Bethlehem near the middle of this map.

When the Seleucid armies attacked in the Spring of 162 BCE, they approached Jerusalem from the south, along the plateau atop this same upper ridge, with a force of about 30,000 soldiers. Yehudah the Macabee, the Jewish general, was able to mount a force of about 10,000 in defense of the capital. He decided to make his stand near a village called Bet Zecharia in a place where the road would place him on the high ground on a raised area at one end of a pass between two hills. At that point, the plateau narrows and The Seleucid general Lysias would be forced

Beth Zacharia today

to march up a valley flanked on either side by those two tall hills. In the past, Yehudah had used similar topography to force the Greek army to march in a narrow file and leave themselves open to attack from the hills on either side. We cannot be 100% certain, but the valley of the battle could easily be the same valley as the one depicted in the photograph below taken in Gush Etzion just south of the small Arab village called coincidentally Beth Zacharia by the local friendly Arabs. Reading the text from the Book Of Macabees I - Chapter 7, one can almost hear the roar of the battle as the Greek forces marched up this valley, with the din of swords banging on shields, and the deafening footsteps of roaring elephants, shouting men, and galloping horses.

Note from the text below that the General Lysias interspersed a division of 30 elephants among his troops and despite the efforts of Yehuda's brother Elazar the Jewish forces were eventually seized by panic and fled.

" 33: Then the Greek king rising very early marched (from Bet tzur) fiercely with his host toward Bathzacharias, where his armies made them ready to battle, and sounded the trumpets. ...... 35: Moreover they divided the beasts among the armies, and for every elephant they appointed a thousand men, armed with coats of mail, and with helmets of brass on their heads; and beside this, for every beast were ordained five hundred horsemen of the best. ....... 37: And upon the beasts were there strong towers of wood, which covered every one of them, .......38: As for the remnant of the horsemen, they set them on this side and that side at the two parts of the host giving them signs what to do, ........ 39: Now when the sun shone upon the shields of gold and brass, the mountains glistered therewith, and shined like lamps of fire. 40: So part of the king's army being spread upon the high mountains, and part on the valleys below, they marched on safely and in order. ........... 42: Then Judas and his host drew near, and entered into battle, and there were slain of the king's army six hundred men. 43: Eleazar also, ...... perceiving that one of the beasts, armed with royal harness, was higher than all the rest, and supposing that the king was upon him, 44: Put himself in jeopardy, to the end he might deliver his people, and get him a perpetual name: 45: Wherefore he ran upon him courageously through the midst of the battle, slaying on the right hand and on the left, so that they were divided from him on both sides. 46: Which done, he crept under the elephant, and thrust him under, and slew him: whereupon the elephant fell down upon him, and there he died. "

It is important to take note of a few things. The Seleucid General Lysias had learned from past mistakes and made sure to attack the hills to either side of their advancing forces. He did not rely on superior numbers alone in order to win. Read carefully the passages 38, and 40 highlighted in yellow. This tactic forced Yehudah to confront the Greek forces in a frontal battle on their terms, where the Greeks were better trained and better armed, and where he had been striped of the element of surprise. Second, the elephants in the battle terrorized the Jewish troops and despite the heroics of Yehudah's brother Elazar the Jewish forces quickly became demoralized and scattered. Third, the battle was timed to begin in the late afternoon and the valley faces to the north west. It seems the Greek troops used the reflection from the late afternoon sun to blind the Jewish troops as they attacked.

To Yehudah's credit, he quickly assessed the situation, sounded the retreat and fled back to Jerusalem, preserving the bulk of his army for another day. Lysias advanced to Jerusalem and placed the city under siege. However, after a short time, a civil war back in Damascus and a new pretender to the throne of the Seleucid Empire, made it imperative for Lysias to leave Jerusalem and rush back to his home city, leaving Yehudah to lick his wounds and reorganize his army for the battles to come. 

Why then, you may ask, do we celebrate the interim victory that took place several years earlier in 164 BCE. I think the answer is clear. At that interim initial stage of the long 40 years of war, the Macabee forces had enough control of Jerusalem to pause and rededicate the Temple and provide the people with their first taste of freedom. That accomplishment, was symbolic of their hopes and prayers for complete freedom and victory to come, and worthy of celebration despite the dangers of future battles and imminent conflict.

Ironically, in that very spot, in the identical valley, in the Spring of 1948 on the eve of the declaration of the new State of Israel, Jewish soldiers lost another battle. This time, instead of elephants the Jordanian troops introduced heavily armored vehicles. The armored vehicles, in that instance as well, proved too much for the Jewish soldiers to handle. But this entry has gone on now long enough, and my entry about the story of the battle for Gush Etzion will have to wait for another day.