Chapter 10
Alexander kills Demetrius and takes as wife the daughter of King Ptolemy. About the glory of Jonathan, who captures Apollonius, and to whom Alexander sends a golden ornament.
10:1 And in the one hundred and sixtieth year Alexander, the son of Antiochus, who was surnamed the Noble, went up and seized Ptolemais, etc.
By Antiochus the Noble he means the one whom the Greeks call Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus the Great, about whom more is related above.
10:2 And King Demetrius heard of it and assembled a very large army, etc.
About this war between Demetrius and Alexander, as Pompeius Trogus and his abbreviator Justin relate it, it does not seem unreasonable to consider their account. For therefore it is written in the Epitome of the same Pompeius Trogus, book thirty‑five: “Demetrius, after seizing the kingdom of Syria, thinking that peace was dangerous for the newness of his rule, decided to increase the strength of his kingdom and to enlarge his resources through wars with his neighbors. And so, hostile to Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, because he had rejected marriage with his sister out of contempt, he received in supplication Ariarathes’ brother Holophernes, who had been unjustly driven from his kingdom, and, rejoicing that an honorable pretext for war had been given him, resolved to restore him to his throne. But Holophernes, with ungrateful spirit, having made an agreement with the Antiochians, who at that time were offended with Demetrius, conceived the plan of driving him from the kingdom by which he was being restored. When Demetrius learned of this, he spared Ariarathes’ life, lest he be freed from fear of a neighboring war, but ordered that he himself be seized and kept in custody at Seleucia; nor were the Antiochians, frightened by this judgment, discouraged from revolt. And so, with the help both of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and Attalus, king of Syria, he sought to recover by arms a kingdom as though it were his paternal inheritance; and, that nothing should be lacking in insult, the name Alexander was given to him, and he was said to have been born of King Antiochus. So great was the hatred of Demetrius among all, that his rival received by common consent not only royal power, but also nobility of lineage. Therefore Alexander, in a remarkable change of fortune, forgetting his former disgrace, and armed with the forces of almost the whole East, wages war against Demetrius, and, having defeated him, strips him of both life and kingdom. Yet Demetrius did not lack courage in resisting the war. For at first he put the enemy to flight, and, when the kings renewed the war, he slew many thousands in Mysia; and at the last, still with unconquered spirit, he fell fighting most bravely among the bravest. At the beginning of the war Demetrius had entrusted two sons to a certain host of his, together with a great weight of gold, so that they might be removed from the dangers of war and, if fate so decreed, be preserved for avenging their father. Of these, the younger, Demetrius, having passed the years of puberty, when he heard of Alexander’s luxury, Alexander whom unexpected riches and the adornments of another’s good fortune, as if he were captured, kept idle in the palace among a crowd of harlots, attacks him, with the help of the Cretans, while he is unsuspecting and fearing no enemy. The Antiochians also, intending to correct their old offence against his father by new services, surrender themselves to him; and the soldiers, too, stirred by favor toward the youth, preferring the obligation of their former oath to the arrogance of the new king, transfer their standards to Demetrius. And therefore Alexander, destroyed by fortune with no less violence than he had been exalted by it, is defeated and killed in the first battle, and paid the penalty to Demetrius, whom he had slain, and to Antiochus, whose lineage he had falsely claimed.”
10:7 And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, etc.
With Demetrius offering peace by letters, Jonathan, dwelling in Jerusalem, began to renew the city; for although persecutors sometimes terrify the faithful with threats, and at other times encourage them with flatteries, nevertheless holy teachers continually devote themselves to spiritual edification and renew the city of the Church, so that its enemies may be able neither to break in by force nor to deceive it by fraud. Therefore it is said that Jonathan ordered Mount Zion to be fortified on all sides by the workers with squared stones, because the preachers of the Gospel especially strive to surround the camp of the Church with holy and strong men, whom the squared stones signify, so that there may not easily be an opening for enemies to attack the holy city: for every object that is four-sided is accustomed to stand firm, however it is turned. To this figure the hearts of the elect are likened, who have learned so to stand in the firmness of faith that, when any adversity arises, not even death itself can cause them to bend from the uprightness of their condition. By Bethzur, which is interpreted “house of the strong,” the Church is sometimes signified, and sometimes Holy Scripture, in which the strong, that is, holy teachers and apostolic men, are seen to dwell; but just as in the present Church both good and evil are found until the net of the Lord, drawing good and bad fish to the shore (Matt. 13 47-50), that is, to the end of the world and to the judgment of final separation, brings them, so Holy Scripture also has devout readers, who search it with a catholic understanding, and corrupt ones, who, by bending it to their own perverse sense, try to corrupt it. Therefore the Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says: “All Scripture, inspired by God, is useful for teaching, for refutation and correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17.). But evil men and impostors grow worse and worse, going astray and leading others into error. Therefore also the prince of the apostles says that the unlearned and unstable distort the sacred Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:15). Therefore, with the persecutions of the pagans having ceased outwardly, up to now heretics and schismatics are raging inwardly against good Catholics, because they have abandoned the law of the Lord and have refused to keep the way of truth. Accordingly, Bethzur is said to become for them a refuge, because whatever they have planned with wicked understanding, or expressed in perverse speech, they strive to confirm it wholly by testimonies of Holy Scripture not rightly understood.
10:15 And King Alexander heard the promises that Demetrius had promised to Jonathan, etc.
As the kings of Syria and Egypt, struggling for the kingdom, each sought the help and friendship of Jonathan, I think nothing else is signified than this: that all carnal people, proud, greedy, and pleasure-loving, although they are always at odds with one another and can in no way firmly keep a settled peace and treaty, nevertheless sometimes, when they perceive the freedom and harmony of Holy Scripture or of the Holy Church, show it honor; because they venerate in it the gift which they do not see themselves as possessing, and some desire to have its friendship or to be helped by its timely comforts, so that through prayer and the pursuit of virtues they themselves may be improved.
10:67 In the one hundred and sixty‑fifth year Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, came from Crete into the land of his fathers.
What is signified by Apollonius, the governor of Coelesyria, whom Demetrius sent with an army into Judaea, if not the officers and ministers of earthly power, to whom it is entrusted by their masters to wage war against the faith of Christ and to compel his confessors to blaspheme? These men, unjustly confident in the numbers of their own people and exalting themselves in the help of the proud, mock Jonathan because he exercises authority in the mountains together with the holy teachers; they scoff at the hope they have in help from on high and provoke them into the plain, that is, to earthly desires and worldly pleasures, so that they may more easily overwhelm them while they move in the depths. For broad is the way that leads to death, and many there are who enter through it (Matt. 7:13).
But Jonathan and Simon, with ten thousand men, engage in battle against Apollonius and his camp; and, overcoming him, they lay him low, just as the holy preachers of Christ, having joined to themselves a number of the faithful who duly keep the commandments of the Decalogue, fight unwaveringly against the persecutors of the faith, and, with divine help for their faith, conquer and defeat all their enemies who devise evil against them. For Joppa, which is interpreted “beauty,” rightly signifies the world, whose appearance seems beautiful to carnal people, because they desire to satisfy the cravings of their flesh; indeed, it is there that Jonathan storms the garrison of Apollonius, where the crowd of teachers, by the truth of the Gospel, crushes and utterly defeats the empty philosophy of the world and its followers; and that same company of holy preachers also fights against Azotus, which is interpreted “paternal fire,” when it seeks to extinguish in people the desire for earthly things. But the armies of Apollonius flee into Azotus to Dagon, their idol, in order to secure their freedom, just as unbelievers seek protection from the demons whom they worship in their superstition. For Dagon is interpreted “fish of sorrow,” signifying the Devil, who, lurking in the sea of this world, strives to deceive all whom he can; but Jonathan sets Azotus and the temple of Dagon on fire, and kills with the sword those who fled into it, because the holy teachers, once the idols have been destroyed by the fire of anathema, likewise condemn the Devil and the love of the world to eternal punishment, and slay idolaters with the sword of the divine word, because they proclaim the punishment that will follow them into Gehenna.
10:85 And there were those who fell by the sword together with those who were burned, eight thousand men, etc.
By means of the number eight, both spiritual circumcision and the day of resurrection, as we have often said, are indicated; and there all who here are not circumcised by the sword of the divine Spirit are handed over to punishment.
10:86 And from there Jonathan moved the camp, etc.
Jonathan advanced the camp and arrived at Ascalon, just as the preachers of the saints arrange the equipment for virtuous combat to overthrow the errors of the nations and to convert them themselves to the faith of Christ; whom those nations receive with devotion, when they gladly render obedience to them in the Gospel. Therefore it is rightly added in common.
10:87 And Jonathan returned to Jerusalem, etc.
For when, as the teachers of the New Testament preach, the Gentiles behold the happiness of those who believe in faith in the word of God, they immediately return to the Church of Christ to give thanks to God, so that they may offer worthy praises to Him, by whose grace they have received this gift over which they exult with great rejoicing.
10:88 And it came to pass that Alexander, when he heard these words, etc.
What does it mean that Alexander, on hearing of Jonathan’s deeds, went further and glorified him by giving him royal adornment, if not that the rulers of the nations, recognizing the greatness of soul and strength of the Church, render to her the honor of royal dignity, because they truly know that she is the Bride of the heavenly King? They grant her cities as possessions, they who hand over to her the dwelling within their borders.