Chapter 10
Judas Maccabeus recovered the temple and Jerusalem. Concerning the feast that was celebrated. Antiochus’s son obtained his father’s kingdom. Ptolemy ended his life by poison. Gorgias and others are defeated.
10:5 On the day when the temple had been polluted by foreigners, etc.
This feast, which is read as being celebrated on the twenty-fifth day of the month Casleu, which among the Latins is called December, is likewise mentioned in a similar way in the previous book; moreover, when it relates that they had previously kept the Feast of Tabernacles in the mountains and in caves, and for that reason carried before him who granted that his place be cleansed the thyrsi, and green branches, and palms, it shows that in the present life, (10:7) where there is a place of tribulation and sorrow, we ought to recognize ourselves as pilgrims; and that there we should strive to offer to God the flowers of virtues and the ever-green branches of good works for the attainment of eternal life and as the reward of payment to the heavenly King. For the thyrsus in general is the middle stalk of all herbs or vegetables, so called because it rises up from the earth; so also from our earthly matter a useful shoot ought to ascend, so that to the cultivator of our heart, who through the gift of His Spirit cultivates us, we may always render acceptable fruit.
10:9 And the death of Antiochus, who was called the Noble, took place as follows, etc.
The history of the previous book relates that Antiochus the Noble, when he was about to set out for Persia, appointed Lysias over the royal affairs from the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt, and to act as guardian for Antiochus his son until he should return. Now, however, it is related that this same Antiochus, the son of Antiochus the Noble, that is, Eupator, appoints Lysias over the same royal affairs. But because he says that he has shortened in his narration many things that were done in the wars, he shows that he has passed over in the order of the history those wars which the younger Antiochus waged by himself against the Jews, when he came there with elephants and a great multitude, both of his own people and of other nations, and when Eleazar the son of Saura killed the largest of the elephants, thinking that the king was on it.
10:14 Gorgias, however, since he was commander of the region, having gathered foreign troops, frequently waged war against the Jews, etc.
This Gorgias, as we have already shown above, the earlier book relates to have acted together with Lysias, as well as with Ptolemy and Nicanor, in attacking Judea. What that attack was like is reported in the earlier and in the present book, but it is stated that the victory remained with the Jews.
Now, as for Gorgias himself, since he was summoning various nations to make war against the Jews, it has already been said above that he represents the type of the Devil, who stirs up unbelievers against the Church of Christ and raises war against His faithful ones. But because it is written there that Gorgias chose seven thousand men for battle, and here, according to the multiplication of the number five in itself, twenty-seven thousand are reported to have been slaughtered, this signifies that all who, through the seven senses of the body, fight for the Devil by carnal desires are punished with a death they deserve.
10:18 Moreover, when certain men had taken refuge in two very strongly fortified towers, etc.
As the spiritual Maccabee fights, the enemies are driven to take refuge in two towers, since those who strove to overthrow Christ’s army, although in no way able to resist the truth of the Gospel, yet, not believing unto salvation, and not fearing the future judgment of the Lord, choose rather to flee into the towers of pride and idolatry than, pierced by the pains of repentance, to abandon their errors. Against them Judas sends soldiers with Simon and Joseph; but some of them, deceived by the love of money, neglected to carry out the battle that had been entrusted to them, because it often happens that those to whom the dignity of the priesthood and the warfare of spiritual combat have been committed, deceived by earthly desire, prefer to satisfy their own greed rather than, despising earthly advantages, to exalt Christ’s will by fighting lawfully. But such men will not escape the punishments they deserve; rather, when the true teachers, strengthened by the Spirit of God, have extinguished the enemies by fighting and overcoming them, they themselves will be justly punished by these teachers through the retribution of anathema.
10:24 And Timotheus, who had previously been defeated by the Jews, having assembled an army of foreign troops, etc.
This Timotheus represents the type of the heretics, as we have shown in the preceding book, who always strive to destroy the faith of Christ and the truth of the Gospel, both by themselves and by the help and support of others. But against the wickedness of these men, the holy teachers ask help from the Lord, and, trusting with firm hope in heavenly assistance, they fight bravely against their enemies. Now the five horsemen who appeared on horses adorned with golden bridles and gave guidance to the Jews represent the five books of the Law; when these are brought into spiritual understanding and, with the typological veil of the letter removed, are reviewed by spiritual knowledge according to the sense of the Gospel, they offer timely comfort to those who carry them out, and, protecting the true confessors of Christ on the right and on the left through the two commandments of love, they hurl fiery darts of judgments against their adversaries, by which, confused in the blindness of their mind and filled with disturbance of understanding, they fall. From these, moreover, twenty thousand and five hundred are struck down, since all who hold opinions contrary to Catholic doctrine, which is contained in the two Testaments, and to the grace of the Holy Spirit, are overcome and cast down when the truth prevails; similarly, the six hundred horsemen are crushed when the pride of their mind, by which they often hoped to prevail over Catholics, is utterly destroyed by the will of the Most High.
10:32-33 But Timotheus fled to Gazara, a fortified stronghold, over which Chaereas was set. But Maccabeus and those who were with him, rejoicing, besieged the stronghold for four days, etc.
What does it mean that Timotheus, defeated by Judas, fled with his men into the fortified stronghold of Gazara, and from there, trusting in the strength of the place, hurled curses against the people? Except that heretics, separated from the unity of the true faith and overcome, withdraw into the hiding places of their errors and, trusting in the protection of their own cunning, hurl words of curse against Catholics. For Timotheus is interpreted as “beneficent” or rather “sorcerer,” and Gazara as “division” or “battle.” But Judas, besieging the stronghold with his companions for four days, at last broke into the fortification by means of twenty young men whose spirits were inflamed because of the blasphemy; he set fire to the towers and the gates, and burned the blasphemers themselves alive. So too the holy teachers, by enclosing the enemies on every side with the four books of the Gospel, through those who keep the commandments of the Law in the two precepts of love, destroy their engines, and burn them alive with the fire of sorrow and repentance. And therefore, in two days, by the help of the two Testaments, laying waste the stronghold of all errors, they kill the true Timotheus, that is, the Devil, the head of all error and the author of all evil, who wishes to hide in his own wickedness, with the sword of God’s word.
10:38 When these things had been done, in hymns and confessions they blessed the Lord, who had done great things in Israel and had given them victory, etc.
In the first book of this history it is written that Lysias, having had the affairs of the kingdom entrusted to him by Antiochus, who was surnamed Epiphanes or the Noble, fought against the Jews, where, when the battle was joined, five thousand men were killed in the army of Lysias. And seeing the flight of his own men and the boldness of the Jews, he went off to Antioch in order to gather the forces of the army again, intending to set out once more into Judea. But now, since it is reported that again, under Antiochus Eupator, he came into Judea, and there, having waged war unsuccessfully, escaped in disgrace by flight, it appears that this same Lysias fought against the Jews under both kings named Antiochus, that is, father and son, and in each battle was defeated by the Jews; but at last, compelled by his own humiliation and terrified by Philip’s incursion into the kingdom, as has been shown elsewhere, he persuaded the king to make peace with the Hebrews, which, however, he did not keep.