Читать книгу A Class-Book of New Testament History онлайн

45 страница из 159

Before, however, the ambassadors could return, the Syrian king keenly resenting the disaster which had befallen the army of Nicanor, had sent Alcimus and Bacchides with the entire force of his realm into Palestine. Never were the Maccabæan patriots so ill prepared to meet this fresh invasion. The mass of the people were tired of constant fighting, and the late negociations with Rome had alienated a considerable number of the Jewish zealots from the councils of Judas. In consequence the brave Maccabee was unable to bring more than a very small force into the field, and of these, a large portion deserted him on the eve of battle (1 Macc. ix.6). With 800 men, however, he ventured to attack the Syrian host at Eleasa, not far from Ashdod, and actually succeeded in routing their right wing with enormous loss. But the odds were far too desperate, and the brave chief fell amongst a number of gallant followers, and was buried amidst universal lamentation in the ancestral tomb at Modin (1 Macc. ix. 19–21).