Jerusalem Is Attacked in 2 Maccabees

At that time Antiochus was making his second invasion into Egypt. In Jerusalem, people saw a startling sign for almost forty days. Horsemen appeared in the sky as if prepared for battle, with weapons, armour, and charging troops. Everyone prayed that this strange appearance would turn out to mean good.

Then a false report spread that Antiochus was dead. Jason took not less than a thousand men and suddenly attacked Jerusalem. Men on the wall were driven back, and Menelaus fled into the citadel. But Jason did not gain control. He had attacked his own people, and he ended by fleeing again in shame.

The chapter says Jason later met a miserable end. He was chased from place to place and hated as a rebel against the laws and as one who had harmed his own countrymen. He died in exile, far from the honour he wanted, with no mourning and no place in the tomb of his ancestors.

When Antiochus heard what had happened, he thought Judea was in revolt. In anger he captured Jerusalem by force. The city suffered terrible killing for three days. The passage says eighty thousand were destroyed, with forty thousand slain and no fewer sold into slavery than those slain. Antiochus then entered the most holy temple, with Menelaus guiding him, and took sacred vessels and dedicated treasures.

2 Maccabees says Antiochus was proud and did not understand what was happening. The writer explains that, for a time, the Lord's anger had turned away from the place because of the sins of those living in the city. Yet the same passage says the holy place was not chosen for its own sake alone, and that after wrath it would later be restored with glory.

Antiochus carried away eighteen hundred talents from the temple and hurried back to Antioch. He left harsh rulers behind, including Philip in Jerusalem, Andronicus at Gerizim, and Menelaus, who acted worse than the others. He also sent Apollonius with twenty-two thousand soldiers. Pretending peace, Apollonius attacked on the Sabbath, killed many, and sold women and boys as slaves. Judas Maccabaeus, with about nine others, escaped to the mountains and lived on wild food so they would not share in defilement.