Chapter 4
On the plots of Simon the traitor against Onias. Jason corrupts King Antiochus with gifts. The priests hurry, neglecting the sacred rites, to the game in the gymnasium. Menelaus excludes Jason from the priesthood, to whom Lysimachus succeeded, etc.
4:7 But after the death of Seleucus, when Antiochus, who was called “the Noble,” had taken over the kingdom, etc.
Of him Josephus relates as follows (Antiq. 12.6): At that same time, when Onias, the leader of the priests, had died, Antiochus bestowed the leadership of the priesthood on his brother, for the son whom Onias had left was still an infant. We shall, however, demonstrate in its proper place each point that still seemed to pertain to the boy. But Jesus (for this was the brother of Onias), the king, angered, deprived of the leadership of the priesthood, and gave it to their younger brother, named Onias; for Simon had these three sons, to whom, as we have said above, the leadership of the priesthood came, and Jesus indeed called himself Jason, while Onias was named Menelaus. Therefore the high priest Jesus first stirred up a treason against Menelaus, and when the multitude of the people was divided between them, on the side of Menelaus stood the sons of Tobias, while by word of the people the greater part supported Jason. Therefore, being hard pressed, Menelaus and the sons of Tobias departed to Antiochus, bringing to his attention that they wished to abandon the ancestral laws and to observe the way of life and customs [laws] of the Greeks. They therefore asked him to allow them to build a gymnasium in Jerusalem; and when he granted it, they concealed their circumcision so that, when naked, they would not appear different from the Greeks; and abandoning all the other things that their ancestral custom imposed on them, they followed the practices and rites of other nations. So far Josephus. But I am astonished how he can say that, after the death of Onias, Antiochus bestowed the priesthood on the brother of Jason, since this history does not agree with that account, as will be shown in what follows. In fact, when Antiochus Epiphanes, having suddenly invaded the region of the Ptolemies, had withdrawn at the command of the senate, he came into Judea; and there he handed over the pontificate to Jesus, who was also the brother of Onias. When he had finally been driven out, he gave Onias, surnamed Menelaus, to succeed him; and thustherefore when a sedition arose among the leaders because of the dignity of the priesthood, the seeds of great miseries sprang up. Therefore these deeds of the proud and transgressors of the law of God do not present to us some allegory useful for edification, but, sadly, in this time many imitators of their crime are found, those who, placed in the Church over the people of God, redeemed by the blood of His only-begotten Son, abandoning the doctrine of the Gospel and true religion, and departing from the worship of the one God who is there commended and made known, by their depraved morals run to hidden idolatry; for, through ambition for money and the riches of this present life, leading a luxurious life detestable to God, and paying heed to the favor of flatterers, they draw many with them to destruction. These, indeed, according to the Apostle, profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny Him (Titus 1:16); for they are not content with moderate food and clothing, but, wishing to become rich, fall into temptation and into the snare of the Devil, and into many desires, useless and harmful, which plunge men into destruction and punishment. For the root of all evils is greed; which, indeed, those who have desired have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Tim. 6:10).
4:18 Now, when the five‑yearly contest at Tyre was being celebrated and the king was present, etc.
In the reign of Ozias and Azaria, the leprous king, over Judaea, and of Phacee over Israel, and likewise of Aeschylus over the Athenians, and of no one over the Latins, in the second year of Aeschylus, judge of the Athenians, the first Olympiad was held, in which Choroebus of Elis emerged as victor. The Eleans hold a five‑yearly contest, with four complete years in between, in which four annual magistrates are appointed; this Olympiad was first established by Iphicus, son of Praxonides or Aemon. From this time onward, Greek history regarding the chronology is believed to be reliable, for before this, as each thought best, they advanced differing opinions. For this five‑yearly contest is described as having been celebrated at that time by Antiochus at Tyre, and the events that are afterward mentioned concerning Jason and Menelaus took place later.
4:26 Jason, indeed, who had imprisoned his own brother,
that is, Onias the elder, son of Simon, was accused before the king by Menelaus, that is, the younger Onias, who had a double name, and,
4:23-24 having been deceived, was driven as a fugitive into the region of the Ammonites. Menelaus indeed obtained the leadership,
but did nothing about the money promised to the king for the high priesthood, for which reason he likewise was removed from the priesthood, Lysimachus succeeding him. While Lysimachus held the priesthood, Menelaus, during Antiochus’s absence, thinking he had found a suitable time because of the second campaign against the people of Tarsus and Mallus, stole certain golden vessels from the temple and gave them to Andronicus, the commander whom the king had left to protect the region. Then Onias the elder, the brother whom Jason had imprisoned, angered by this, accused Menelaus of the wickedness he had committed, while keeping himself in a safe place at Antioch, near Daphne. From there Menelaus, going to Andronicus, asked him to kill Onias. When he came to Onias, and after giving him his right hand with an oath, although Onias suspected him, and persuading him to come out of the sanctuary, he immediately killed him, having no fear of justice, for a deed which not only the Jews but also other nations resented and bore with great displeasure, because of the murder of so great and righteous a man. Therefore the Jews together with the Greeks went to the king when he returned from the regions of Cilicia, and reported what had been done. At this Antiochus was moved even to the shedding of tears; recalling the temperance and modesty of the deceased, and inflamed in spirit, he ordered Andronicus to be stripped of the purple, led around the whole city, and in the same place where he had committed wickedness against Onias, the sacrilegious man was deprived of life, the Lord rendering to him a punishment worthy of him. For with many acts of sacrilege in the temple committed by Lysimachus on Menelaus’s advice, and when the report spread, a crowd gathered against Lysimachus: some seized stones, others strong clubs, and some threw ashes at Lysimachus; and many were indeed wounded, some even knocked down, but all were put to flight, and they killed him, the sacrilegious man, near the treasury. Therefore, proceedings began to be conducted against Menelaus; and when the king came to Tyre, three men, sent by the elders, brought the matter before him. When Menelaus was being overcome, he promised Ptolemy large sums of money to persuade the king. So Ptolemy, when the king was in a certain walkway, as if for the sake of refreshment, approached him and turned him from his decision, and Menelaus he acquitted of all the charges brought against him. But the wretched Jews, who, although they had pleaded their cause before the governors and had been judged innocent, he condemned to death.