794- J E 
ander waged again'l each other. At firft it 'was given, to¬ 
gether with Syria and Phenicia, to Leomedon the Mity- 
lenian, one of Alexander’s generals; but, he being foon 
after (tripped of the other two by Ptolemy Lagus, Judea 
. was next iiimmoned to yield'to the conqueror. The Jews 
fcrupled to break their oath of fidelity to Leomedon ; and 
were of confequence invaded by Ptolemy at the head of 
a powerful army. The open country was eafily reduced ; 
but the city, being llrongly fortified both by art and na¬ 
ture, threatened a ftrong refinance. A fuperftitious fear 
o( breaking- the fabbath, however, prevented the befieged 
from making any defence on that day.; ofLwhicn Ptolemy 
being informed, he caufed an affa.ult to be made on the 
fabbath, and eafily carried the place. At firft he treated 
them with great feverity, and carried 100,000 men of them 
into captivity; but, reflecting foon after on their known 
fidelity to their conquerors, he reftored them to all the 
privileges they had enjoyed under the Macedonians. Of 
the captives he put forne into garrifons, and others he fet¬ 
tled in the countries of Libya and Cyrene. From thofe 
who fettled in the latter of thefe countries defcended the 
Cyrenean Jews mentioned by the writers of the New Tes¬ 
tament. 
Five years after Ptolemy had fubdued Judea, he was- 
forced to yield it to Antigonus, referving to himfelf only 
the cities of Ace, Samaria, Joppa, and Gaza; and carry¬ 
ing off an immenfe booty, together with a great number 
of captives, whom he fettled at Alexandria, and endowed 
with confiderable privileges and immunities. Antigonus 
behaved in fuch a tyrannical manner, that great numbers 
of his Jevvifh fubjedls .fled into Egypt, and others put 
tllerrtfelves under the protection of Seleucus, who alfo 
granted them confiderable privileges. Hence this nation 
came gradually to be fpread over Syria and Alia Minor ; 
while Judea feemed to be in danger of being depopulated, 
till it was recovered by Ptolemy in 292. The affairs of 
the Jews then took a more profperous turn, and conti¬ 
nued in a thriving way till the reign of Ptolemy Philopa- 
tor, when they were grievoufly opprefled by the incur- 
fions of the Samaritans, at the fame time that Antiochus 
Theos king of Syria invaded Galilee.' Ptolemy, however, 
marched againft Antiochus, and defeated him ; after 
which, having gone to Jerufalem to offer facrifices, he 
ventured to profane the temple itfelf by going into it. 
He penetrated through the two outer courts; but, as he 
was about to enter the '(ancillary, he was (truck with fuch 
dread and terror, that he fell down half-dead. A dread¬ 
ful perfecution was then raifed againft the Jews, who had 
attempted to hinder him in his impious attempt; but this 
perfecution was flopped by a Hill more extraordinary ac¬ 
cident related under the article Egypt, voi. vi. p. 301-2. 
and the Jews were again received into favour. 
About the year 204 B.C. the country of Judea was fub¬ 
dued by Antiochus the Great; and on this occafion the 
loyalty of the Jews to the Egyptians failed them, the whole 
nation readily fubmitting to the king of Syria. This at¬ 
tachment fo pleafed the Syrian monarch, that he lent a 
letter to his general, wherein be acquainted him that he 
defigned to reltore Jerufalem to its ancient fplendour, 
and to reCal all the Jews that had been driven out of it; 
that, out of his Angular refpeft to the temple of God, 
he granted them 20,000 pieces of filver, towards the 
charges of the victims, frank incenfe, wine, and oil; 1400 
meafures of fine wheat, and 375 meafures of fait, towards 
their ufual oblations; that the temple fhould be thorough¬ 
ly repaired at his coft; that they fhould enjoy the.free ex- 
ercife of their religion ; and reftore the public fervice of 
the temple, and the priefts, Levites, fingers, &c. to their 
ufual functions ;'that no ftranger, or Jew that was unpu¬ 
rified, fhould enter farther into the temple than was al¬ 
lowed by their law ; and that no flefh of unclean beads 
fhould be brought into Jerufalem, nor even their (kins; 
and all thefe under the penalty of paying 3000 pieces of 
filver into the treafury of the temple. He further granted 
vr. 
an exemption of taxes for three years to all the difperfetj 
Jews that fhould come within a limited time to fettle its 
the metropolis and that all who had. been fold for flaves 
within his dominions (hoold be immediately fet free. 
This ludaen prolperity proved of no long duration. 
About the year 176, a quarrel happened between Onias., 
at that time high-prie.fi, and one Simon, governor of the 
temple, which was attended with the molt fatal confe- 
quences. The caufes of this quarrel are unknown. The 
event, however, was, that Simon,finding he could not get 
the better ot Onias," informed Apollonius, governor of Cce- 
lofyria and Paleftine, that there was at that time in the 
temple an immenfe treafure, which at his pleafure might 
be leized upon for the ufe of the king of Syria. Of this 
the governor ihftantly lent intelligence to the king, who 
difpatched one Heliodorus to take pofieftion of the fup- 
polisd treafure. This perfon, through a miraculous inter- 
pofition, as the Jews pretend, failed in his attempt of en¬ 
tering the temple; upon which Simon accufed the high- 
prieft to the people, as the perfon who had invited Hefio- 
dorus.to Jerufalem. This produced a kind of civil war,, 
in which many fell on both fides. At laft, Onias having 
complained to the king, Simon was banifhed; but foon 
after, Antiochus Epiphanes having afeended the throne 
of Syria, Jafon, the high-prieft’s brother, taking advan¬ 
tage of the neceffities ot Antiochus, purchased- from him 
the high-priefthood at the price of three hundred and fifty 
talents, and obtained an order that his brother fhould be 
lent to Antioch, there to be confined for life. Jafon’s 
next flap was to purchafe liberty, at the price of one hun¬ 
dred and fifty talents more, to build a gymnafium at Je¬ 
rufalem fimilar to thofe which were ufed in the Grecian, 
cities; and to make as many Jews as he pleafed free citi¬ 
zens of Antioch. By means of thefe powers he became 
very foon able to form a ftrong party in Judea; for his 
countrymen were exceedingly fond of the Grecian cus¬ 
toms, and the freedom of the city of Antioch was a very 
valuable privilege. From this time therefore a general, 
apoftacy took place; the fervice of the temple Was ne¬ 
glected, and Jafon'abandoned himfelf without remorfe to 
all the impieties and abfurdities of paganifm. He did not,. 
however, long enjoy his ill-acquired dignify. 'Having fent 
his brother Menelaus with the ufual tribute to Antiochus,,. 
the former took the opportunity of fupplanting Jafon in 
the fame manner that he had fupjfented Onias. Having 
offered for the high-priefthood three hundred talents more 
than his brother had given, he eafily obtained it, and re¬ 
turned with his new commifficn to Jerufalem. Fie foon 
got himfelf a ftrong party; but Jafon, proving too power¬ 
ful, forced Menelaus and his adherents to retire to An¬ 
tioch. Here, the better to gain their point, they ac¬ 
quainted Antiochus that they were determined to re¬ 
nounce their old religion, and wholly conform themfelves 
to that of the Greeks; which fo pleafed the tyrant, that 
he immediately gave them a force fufficient to drive Jafon 
out of Jerufalem ; who thereupon took refuge among the 
Ammonites. 
Menelaus,.being thus freed from his rival, took care to 
fulfil his promife to the king with regard to the apoftafy, 
but forgot to pay the money he had promifed. At laft 
he was fummoned to Antioch ; and, finding nothing but 
the payment of the promifed fum would do, he lent orders 
to his brother Lyfimachus to convey to him as many of 
the facred utenfils belonging to the temple as could be 
fpared. As thefe were all of gold, the apoftate foon raifed 
a fufficient fum from them, not only to fatisfy the king, 
but alfo to bribe the Courtiers in his favour. But his. 
brother Onias, who* had been all this time confined at An*. 
tioch, getting intelligence of the facrilege, made fuch bit¬ 
ter complaints, that an infurreftion was ready to take placer 
among the Jews at Antioch. Menelaus, in order to avoid 
the impending danger, bribed Andronicus, governor of 
the city, to murder Onias. This produced the moft ve¬ 
hement complaints as foon as Antiochus returned to the 
capital 
