The Hammer: A Story of the Maccabean Times

  _THE HAMMER_

  _The Cave among the Mountains._]

  THE HAMMER

  _A STORY OF THE MACCABEAN TIMES_

  BY ALFRED J. CHURCH, M.A. _Lately Professor of Latin in University College, London_ AND RICHMOND SEELEY

  _With Illustrations by __JOHN JELLICOE_

  LONDONSEELEY AND CO. LIMITEDESSEX STREET, STRAND1890

  PREFACE

  It is not so very long since the Apocrypha was found in almost every copyof the English Bible, but in the present day it is seldom printed with it,and very seldom indeed read. One or two of the writings included underthis name are trivial and even absurd; but, on the whole, the Apocryphalbooks deserve far more attention than they receive. Among the foremost, inpoint of interest and value, must be placed the First Book of Maccabees.Written within fifty years of the events which it records, at a time, itmust be remembered, that was singularly barren of historical literature,it is a careful, sober, and consistent narrative. It is our principal, notunfrequently our sole, authority for the incidents of a very importantperiod, a period that was in the highest degree critical in the history ofthe Jewish nation and of the world which that nation has so largelyinfluenced. It is commonly said that the great visitation of the Captivityfinally destroyed in the Hebrew mind the tendency to idolatry. But thedenunciations of Ezekiel prove to us that the exiles carried into the landof their captivity the evil which they had cherished in the land of theirbirth, and it is no less certain that they brought it back with them ontheir return. It grew to its height in the early part of the SecondCentury B.C., along with the increasing influence of Greek civilization inWestern Asia. The feeble Jewish Commonwealth was more and more dominatedby the powerful kingdoms which had been established on the ruins of theempire of Alexander, and the national religion was attacked by an enemy atleast as dangerous as the Phoenician Baal-worship had been in earlier days,an enemy which may be briefly described by the word Hellenism. The storyof how Judas and his brothers led the movement which rescued the Jewishfaith from this peril is the story which we have endeavoured to tell inthis volume. Our plan has been to follow strictly the lines of the FirstBook of Maccabees, going to the Second, a far less trustworthy document,only for some picturesque incidents. The subsidiary characters arefictitious, but the narrative is, we believe, apart from casual errors,historically correct.

  We have to acknowledge special obligations to Captain Conder's "JudasMaccabaeus," a volume of the series entitled "The New Plutarch." We alsoowe much to Canon Rawlinson's notes in the "Speaker's Commentary on theBible," to Canon Westcott's articles in the "Dictionary of the Bible," andto Dean Stanley's "Lectures on the Jewish Church."

  If any reader should be curious as to the literary partnership announcedon the title-page--a partnership that has grown, so to speak, out ofanother of many years' standing, shared by the writers as author andpublisher--he may be informed that the plan of the story and a detailedoutline of it have been contributed by Richmond Seeley, and the storyitself written for the most part by Alfred Church.

  LONDON,_Sept. 3, 1889._

  CONTENTS

  CHAP. PAGE I. A NEW ORDER OF THINGS 1 II. ANTIOCHUS 19 III. MENELAUeS 37 IV. AT ANTIOCH 49 V. THE WRATH TO COME 68 VI. THE EVIL DAYS 79 VII. THE DARKNESS THICKENS 90 VIII. SHALLUM THE WINE-SELLER 101 IX. THE PERSECUTION 113 X. IN THE MOUNTAINS 124 XI. NEWS BAD AND GOOD 135 XII. THE PATRIOT ARMY 148 XIII. GUERILLA WARFARE IN THE MOUNTAINS 159 XIV. THE BURIAL OF MATTATHIAS 171 XV. THE SWORD OF APOLLONIUS 184 XVI. NEWS FROM THE BATTLE-FIELD 193 XVII. THE BATTLE OF EMMAUS 208 XVIII. THE BATTLE OF BETH-ZUR 225 XIX. IN JERUSALEM 235 XX. THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE 242 XXI. THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE 254 XXII. WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS 263 XXIII. MORE VICTORIES 274 XXIV. THE SABBATICAL YEAR 284 XXV. REVERSES 294 XXVI. LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS 304 XXVII. A PEACEFUL INTERVAL 314XXVIII. HOPES AND FEARS 323 XXIX. CIVIL WAR 331 XXX. NICANOR 339 XXXI. THE FALLING AWAY 352 XXXII. THE LAST BATTLE 362XXXIII. THE HOPE OF ISRAEL 368

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  THE CAVE AMONG THE MOUNTAINS _Frontispiece_ANTIOCHUS IN THE TAVERN 32THE PERSECUTION 118THE LAST CHARGE OF MATTATHIAS 168THE SWORD OF APOLLONIUS 192FAREWELL TO THE MOUNTAINS 232THE DEATH OF ELEAZAR 302THE BOY KING 314

  THE HAMMER