Chapter 3
Simon revealed the treasures of the temple of God; Heliodorus is sent to seize them; the priest and the people beseech the Lord that the deposits may be kept safe. Heliodorus, wishing to plunder the temple, is struck down; he is freed from the affliction through the sacrifice that is offered.
3:1 Therefore, when the holy city was dwelling in all peace, etc.
So then, because there were various high priests under different kings, we have judged it necessary, according to the account of the historians, to list the names of those who held the high priesthood in the times of the kings, and also of those who were in the nation of Judea after the captivity of Babylon, so that the truth of history may appear more clearly. The first high priest of the temple that Solomon built was Zadok; after him, however, Ahimaaz his son succeeded to the honor; after him, then, Joram, and after him Anxidranius. Then Judas, and after Judas, Sudeus. After him Hylus, and Joatham succeeded Hylus. Then again Urias, and Nerias succeeded Urias. After Nerias, however, Odeas was high priest. After him, then, Sellam, then Elchias. After him, Zara, and after him was Josedech, who was led away captive to Babylon. These men, in the high priesthood, succeeded their fathers in due order as sons. After Josedech, however, his son Joannes received the priesthood, under whom the temple was rebuilt; and after him, Joachim his son. When this one died, Joannes his son received the honor; and when Joannes ended his life, his son Jaddus succeeded to the primacy of the priests, under whom King Alexander the Macedonian came to Jerusalem. After him, his son Onias is held in high reputation. After him, his son Simon, whose surname was “the Just,” because of his diligent zeal for the religion of the Lord and his ready compassion toward his fellow citizens. Then Eleazar, the brother of Simon, the high priest of the Jews, took up the ministry of the temple, Simon’s son Onias having been left very young: this Eleazar, at the request of Ptolemy Philadelphus, sent the Seventy Translators to translate the divine Law. After Eleazar, however, his uncle Manasses received the priesthood. After Manasses, then, Onias, son of Simon the Just, the high priest of the Jews, is held in high reputation: he, by not paying to King Ptolemy the customary tributes, provoked him to anger. But Joseph, noble among his own people, sent by the Jews as a messenger to Ptolemy, since he had earned the king’s favor by many services, was appointed leader of Judea and the neighboring regions. After Onias, however, Simon, son of Onias, the high priest of the Jews, is held in high reputation. Under him, Joannes, son of Sirach, composed the book of Wisdom, which he called Pahareton, that is, “capable of all virtues,” and he made mention of Simon in it. After Simon, however, Onias, son of the same Simon, is considered outstanding: to him King Arius of the Lacedaemonians sent messengers. He held office while Antiochus the Great ruled Syria and Asia, and his son Seleucus Philopator, up to Antiochus Epiphanes; under this high priest Onias, those events which are told about Simon, overseer of the temple, took place, when Seleucus Philopator was ruling in Syria and Asia, and Antiochus Epiphanes succeeded to the kingdom. Now Simon, overseer of the temple at Jerusalem, fleeing to Apollonius, the commander of Phoenicia, and promising him many gifts, began to claim the priesthood for himself. When Seleucus heard this, he sent Heliodorus to look into the matter; when he had come into Judea, judging unjustly and conducting many prosperous undertakings, he was terrified by divine signs against him, and returned to Seleucus. But Onias the priest had seen to it that Simon became a fugitive, etc. Finally, this story, according to the rule of tropology, suggests that all who, stirred up by pride, have presumed to profane the Lord’s sanctification and to handle it unworthily with defiled hands, are to be punished by heavenly judgment, because, as Truth attests, the house of prayer is for all nations (Matt. 21:13; Isa. 56:7), and no one is permitted to make it a den of robbers. Therefore the Psalmist also says: Your house is adorned with holiness, O Lord, for length of days (Ps. 93:5). Nor is it permitted that anything be done or stored there except the service of the praises and prayers of God alone. Therefore the Lord himself in the Gospel (Matt. 22:12-13) drove out of the temple those who were selling and buying in it, and poured out the money‑changers’ coins, and overturned the seats of those selling doves. And when he had done these things, he was daily teaching in the temple. According to the allegorical sense, however, Onias, the great priest of God and guardian of the figurative temple, signifies the Lord and Savior, who was made high priest by God the Father forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4), and is the guardian and indweller of the true temple of God, which is the Church: this name Onias seems quite clearly to express this, for Onias is interpreted “the Lord’s sorrow” or “Lord of sorrows”; and who can more fittingly be called a sorrowing Lord than our Redeemer, of whom it is said through Isaiah: We have seen him, and he had no comeliness, and we desired him, despised and the least of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity: truly he himself bore our sicknesses and he himself carried our sorrows. (Isa. 53:3)
Heliodorus, however, attacker and looter of the treasury of the Lord, represents pagans, or Jews, or even heretics, who wished, without reverence for God, to abuse His gifts and turn them to a wicked deed. For pagans invade the treasure of the temple of God when they attempt to destroy the faith and merit of Christ. The Jews also invade it when they desire to confuse the Christian religion with the ceremonies of the old Law. Heretics likewise invade it when they strive to corrupt the truth of the Gospel and the purity of the law of God with false doctrines. But, while Onias was praying, a terrible horseman descended, having golden weapons, namely, he of whom John wrote in his Apocalypse, saying (Rev. 19:11-16): “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon it was called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written which no one knows but himself. And he was clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called the Word of God.” While the members of Christ pray, He Himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn. 14:6), comes to their aid, to defeat their enemies and terrify the belief of the wicked. His horse was incorrupt, and His garment bloodstained, because the death of His flesh was harmless; and He Himself was terrible because He is exceedingly wonderful and a most just judge. He was adorned with the finest coverings, because He shines with the most evident splendor of all virtues. To Him belonged all golden weapons, because His works are wonderful; for by His gift His Church possesses the shield of faith, the breastplate of justice, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Eph. 6:17) With these weapons He daily fights in His members against His enemies. This horseman, then, with a rush struck down Heliodorus with his foremost hooves, because the mystery of the Incarnation lays low all enemies, that is, Jews, pagans, and heretics, so that, confounded by the enormity of their crimes, they may at some point cease. Those two youths, therefore, who appeared with the horseman, beautiful in virtue, excellent in glory, and splendid in their clothing, who stood beside Onias on either side and unceasingly scourged Heliodorus, beating him with many blows, signify the doctors of both Testaments. Standing around the Incarnation of Christ, adorned by the power of faith and good works, most excellent in the glory of miracles, and most fair in the garment of holy knowledge and wisdom, existing in various times, they, by their preaching, strike the insensibility of the wicked and compel them to fall to the ground. Therefore it will come to pass that he who had proudly attacked the temple will, through the correction of discipline, appear weak; for “there is no wisdom, no prudence, no counsel against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30); for “whatever He willed, He has done in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the deeps; and there is none who can resist His will; the Lord of all is He Himself” (Ps. 135:6). But the fact that Onias, offering a saving victim for the man’s salvation, preserved Heliodorus, surrounded by thick darkness, signifies that the mercy of our Redeemer often grants the blessing of conversion to the ungrateful and undeserving, so that, through His grace, who offered Himself as a saving victim for the sins of the world, they may be stripped of their errors and freed from the power of Satan, by whose hatred they were once held captive to his will, and may give thanks to their Redeemer and proclaim His praise over all the earth.