The treaty between Antiochus and Judas Maccabeus having been ratified by oath, the king and Lycias were admitted into the stronghold which had been so bravely defended. But seeing the strength of the fortification, they, contrary to stipulation, pulled down and destroyed the wall before departing for Syria.
Menelaus, the treacherous high priest, had accompanied Lycias in his expedition against Jerusalem, probably in hope of being restored to his office by the enemies of his people. But divine vengeance at length overtook this traitor to his country and his God. Menelaus lost favour with those whom he had served at the price of conscience, and they became the instruments of his just punishment. He was, by the royal command, cast headlong from a high tower into ashes, where the renegade miserably perished.
CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS. 170-163 B.C. B.C. Macedon made a province of Rome 168 The first library erected at Rome 168
Expedition of Bacchides—Victories over Nicanor—League with Rome—Death of Judas Maccabeus.
The reign of the noble Judas was neither peaceful nor long. The year after that in which Antiochus and Lycias had besieged the temple, they were both defeated and slain by Demetrius Soter, a prince who aspired to the Syrian crown, 162 B.C. The conqueror was no sooner established on the throne than a band of Jewish apostates came around him, with bitter complaints against Judas. At their head was Alcimus, an unworthy high priest of the Jews, who had been expelled by them with just indignation for his attachment to Grecian idolatries. Unappalled by the fate of the guilty Menelaus, this renegade sought the aid of a heathen monarch to reinstate him in the office of which he had been so justly deprived.
The new king, Demetrius, lending a willing ear to the complaints of the Jewish traitors, sent a large force under his general, Bacchides, to support the claims of Alcimus. This commander entered Judea without meeting with any apparent opposition, and placing Alcimus in power, with what he considered a sufficient force to protect him, Bacchides returned to the king.
But the traitor Alcimus was unable to maintain himself in his dangerous position; he was forced again to seek aid from Demetrius, who again acceded to his prayer. The king sent Nicanor, a prince of high dignity, a man who bore deadly hatred towards Israel, with a powerful force, and the royal command to execute stern vengeance on the Jews. But again the Almighty gave victory to his people. Twice was Nicanor defeated by Judas, and in the second battle the heathen general was slain.