.

The successes of Judas and the restoration of the Temple worship
inflamed with renewed anger the heathen population of the countries in
the near vicinity of Judaea; and there seems to have been a general
confederacy of Idumaeans,--descendants of Esau,--with sundry of the
Bedouin tribes, and of the heathen settled east of the Jordan in the
land of Gilead, and of Phoenicians and heathen strangers in Galilee, to
recover what the Syrians had lost, and to restore idol worship. Judas
had now an army of eleven thousand men, which he divided between himself
and his brother Simon, and they marched in different directions to the
attack of their numerous enemies. They were both eminently successful,
gaining bloody battles, capturing cities and fortresses, taking immense
spoils, mingling the sound of trumpets with prayers to Almighty
God,--heroes as religious as they were brave, an unexampled band of
warriors, rivalling Joshua, Saul, and David in the brilliancy of their
victories. All the Jews who remained true to their faith in the
districts which he overran and desolated, Judas brought back with him to
Jerusalem for greater safety.

Only one misfortune sullied the glory of these exploits. Judas had left
behind him at Jerusalem, when he and Simon went forth to fight the
idolaters, a garrison of two thousand men under the command of Joseph
and Azarias, leaders of the people, with the strict command to remain
in the city until he should return. But these popular leaders, dazzled
by the victories of Judas and Simon, and wishing to earn a fame like
theirs, issued from their stronghold with two thousand men to attack
Jamnia, and were met by Gorgias the Syrian general and completely
annihilated,--a just punishment for military disobedience. The loss of
two thousand men was a calamity, but Judas pursued his victories,
finally turning against the Philistines, who at this point disappear
from sacred history.

In the meantime King Antiochus, who, as already stated, had gone on a
plundering expedition to Persia, was defeated in the attempt, and
returned in great grief and disappointment to Ecbatana. Here he heard
that his armies under Lysias had been disgracefully beaten, and that
Judaea was in a fair way to achieve its independence under the heroic
Judas; and, worse still, that all the pagan temples and altars which he
had set up in Jerusalem were removed and destroyed. This especially
filled him with rage, for he was a fanatic in his