51 Q. What became of him at last?

A. By the treachery of one Tryphon, who sought the kingdom of Syria, he was seized, and shut up close prisoner in Ptolemais, 1 Macc. xi. and xii. And afterwards was slain with his two sons, chap. xiii.

52 Q. Who succeeded Jonathan in the high-priesthood and government?

A. Simon his brother, by the request of all the people.

53 Q. What were some of the first enterprizes of Simon?

A. After an honourable burial of his brother at Modin, the city of his fathers, and the noble and lofty monument, and seven pyramids which he set up for his parents, his four brethren and himself, he fortified the cities of Judea, made a league with young Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, took the city of Gaza, cleansed the houses from idols, and built himself a house there.

54 Q. Did the garrison in the tower of Acra, near the Temple continue to annoy the Jews in their worship?

A. Notwithstanding all the attempts of Judas and Jonathan, these enemies remained still till the days of Simon, who shut them up so closely, that after great numbers perished with famine, the rest yielded up the tower to Simon; immediately he cleansed it from its pollutions, and entered into it with harps and songs, and great triumph.

55 Q. What precaution did Simon take against the like annoyance for time to come?

A. By consent and assistance of the people, he pulled down the tower, and reduced the mountain itself so low, that there might be no possibility of any future annoyance to the worship of the Temple from that place?

56 Q. What further success had Simon in his go. vernment?

A. He established Jerusalem and Judea in great

peace and plenty; he sought out the law, and made it to be obeyed; he beautified the sanctuary, multiplied the vessels of the temple, and maintained their religion in the divine institutions of it.

57 Q. What peculiar honour was done him by the Jews.

A. In a general assembly of the priests and elders, and the people of the Jews, met together at Jerusalem, he was constituted their prince as well as their high-priest; and these dignities and offices were settled upon his posterity for ever. This was en

graven on tables of brass, together with the good deeds of himself and his family, which bad merited such an honour; and these tables were hung up in the sanctuary.

58 Q. What regard was paid to him among the heathen nations?

A. Several princes and people, the Lacedemonians, the Romans, and Antiochus, surnamed Si dotes, the son of Demetrius, king of Syria, all sought his friendship, made leagues and covenants with him, and conferred on him special honours, 1 Macc. xiv. and xv.

59 Q. Did Antiochus keep his covenant with Si'mon?

4. By no means; for when he had vanquished Tryphon, his rival, he brake his league with Simon, and invaded some parts of Judea; but his general, Cendebeus, was routed by Simon, and his two eldest sons Judas and John, whose surname was Hyrcanus. 60 Q. What was the fate of Simon at last?

A. When Simon was visiting the cities, and giving orders for their welfare, one Ptolemeus, who was his son in-law, invited him and his sons to banquet at Jericho, and slew Simon with two of his sons, in order to get the government of the country into his own hands and sent privately to kill John also.

61 Q. Did Ptolemeus succeed in this his treachery and murderous enterprize?

A. John having got timely notice of it, slew the assassins, and was invested with the high-priesthood, and the government after his father.

Note, Here ends that excellent history, the first book of the Maccabees. The following part of this account of the Jews is borrowed chiefly from Josephus, who usually calls John by the surname of Hyrcanus.

SECTION VII.

Of the Jewish Affairs under the conduct of the posterity and successors of Simon the Maccabee; and of the several sects among the Jews, namely, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Herodians, Karaites.

1 Q. DID John Hyrcanus enjoy his office in peace? A. Antiochus Sidotes being informed of the death of Simon, and being invited by Ptolemeus, invaded Judea again, besieged Jerusalem, and reduced Hyrcanus and the Jews to the last extremity by famine: but when they sued for peace he granted it, upon condition of paying certain tributes to the king, and demolishing the fortifications of Jerusalem.

Note, About this time Jesus the son of Syrach, a Jew of Jerusalem, coming into Egypt, translated the book of Ecclesiasticus, written by Jesus his grandfather, out of Hebrew into Greek, for the use of the Hellenistic Jews there. The ancients called it Panareton, or the treasury of all virtue.

2 Q. How did the affairs of the Jews succeed under Hyrcanus?

A. A few years afterwards he took advantage of the vast confusions that ensued among the nations, upon the death of Antiochus, to enlarge his borders, by seizing some neighbouring towns on several sides of Judea, and to renounce all his dependance upon the kings of Syria.

3Q. Was he supported therein by any foreign power?

A. He renewed the league of friendship which his father Simon had made with the Romans, who were "then growing to their grandeur; and they ordered that he should be freed from the late imposed tribute, and that the Syrians should make reparation for the damages they had done him.

4 Q. In what manner did Hyrcanus deal with the Edomites, or Idumeans, who were on the south of Judea?

A. He constrained them to embrace the Jewish religion, or to leave their country; whereupon they chose to forsake their idolatry, and became proselytes to Judaism, and were mingled and incorporated with the Jews; and, by this means, in less than two hundred years, their very name was lost.

Note, In defence of this practice of Hyrcanus, among the Idumeans, which seems to be so contrary to the laws of nature and Scripture, it may be said, that at this time these Edomites had encroached on the land of Judea, and inhabited all the south part of it: so that Hyrcanus, in banishing those who would not become Jews, did but dispossess them of that country which was given to the Jews by God himself. Yet it must be confessed, by this practice he seems to have set an unhappy pattern to his successors, to impose the religion of the Jews on conquered countries by force.

5 Q. How did he treat the Samaritans on the north, when his power was thus increased?

A. He marched with his army and took Shechem, which was then the chief seat of the Samaritan sect; and he destroyed their Temple on Mount Gerizim, which Sanballat had built; though they continued still to keep an altar there, and to offer sacrifices.

6 Q. How came Shechem to be their chief seat instead of Samaria?

A. They were expelled from Samaria, by Alexander, for killing one of his deputy-governors in tumult, and they retiring to Shechem, made that their chief

seat; while Alexander repeopled Samaria with heathens of the Syrian and Macedonian race.

7 Q. Did Hyrcanus extend his power farther on that side of the country?

A. He besieged Samaria, and took it, and utterly demolished it; he not only ruled in Judea, but in Galilee also, and the neighbouring towns; he became one of the most considerable princes of his age, and preserved the Jewish church and state in safety from their enemies, throughout a long government.

8 Q. What other remarkable actions are ascribed to Hyrcanus?

A. He was esteemed a prophet for one or two notable predictions, or knowledge of things done at a distance. He built the castle Baris, on a steep rock, fifty cubits high, without the outer square of the temple, but on the same mountain; this was the palace of all the Asmonean princes in Jerusalem, and here the sacred robes of the high-priest were always laid up when they were not in use.

9 Q. What use was afterwards made of this castle?

A. Herod new built it, and made it a very strong fortress, to command both the city and the temple, and called it Antonia, in honour of his great friend Mark Antony of Rome: he raised it so high, that he might see what was done in the temple, and send his soldiers, in case of any tumult. Here the Romans kept a strong garrison, and the governor of it was called captain of the Temple, Acts xxi. 31.

Note, It was from this place the centinel spying the Jews ready to kill Paul, gave notice to the governor, or chief captain, who went down immediately with some soldiers into the court of the Gentiles, whither they had dragged St. Paul to kill him, and rescued him, and brought him up the stairs into this castle; and it was upon these stairs that Paul obtained leave to speak to the people, Acts xxi. 26, &c.

10 Q. What troubles did Hyrcanus meet with toward the end of his life?