to make a league of amity and confederacy with them. And the matter pleased the Romans well,* and they made a covenant with them, and they would fight with them by sea and by land. And greatly to their credit the Romans substantially honoured this agreement until the end, and regarded it as the practical basis of their relations in days to come. In the heyday of his magnificence the Roman is never to forget that in those days of his humbler past a little nation of the East had sent their ambassadors to Rome-which was a very great journey to ask his friendship and alliance. And they had struck hands. In the irresistible movement of events the Jews were to become part of the Roman Empire, but it never was as a conquered people that their allegiance was demanded. In their numerous quarrels amongst themselves they ventured the dangerous expedient of calling in the Roman to arbitrate on the rival claims of their own rulers, and from arbitrator to master was most natural of transition in such tempestuous times.

41. For some three years Judas is to have comparative quiet. Lysias was successful over Philip, and established himself in power, when he was challenged by a new and more dangerous competitor. This was Demetrius, son of Seleucus, whom Antiochus Epiphanes, brother of Seleucus, had robbed of his throne. Demetrius, taking advantage of the unsettled conditions, escaped from Rome, raised a small mercenary army, came to Syria, and with the greatest good fortune, managed to capture Lysias and the young king, Eupator, both of whom without any compunction he at once slew. Thus he entered into the kingdom of his fathers, but to find it much weakened by the past dissensions, and his position was far from secure. Taking advantage of his embarrassments, the king of Parthia quite an unimportant kingdom-succeeded in wresting from him Mesopotamia, Babylon, and Assyria. And now there is not a doubt that had the Semitic peoples been united amongst themselves they *1 Maccabees viii. 21.

might have defied Demetrius and established themselves as the great power of the East.

And here we see the difference between Judas and David. Both were magnificent warriors, but in addition David was as great a diplomatist. He founded and Solomon established a kingdom which, in coalition with Tyre, was the rival of Egypt, of the Hittites, and of the Assyrians themselves. B.C. 1000 we see Judea one of the world-powers of the times. What broke up that confederacy was internal dissension. What prevented all hope of its rebirth was the same internal dissension, at this time aggravated by centuries of mutual injuries and the bitterest animosities. United, the children of Israel in the East might well have played the part of the Romans in the West. The Romans, once they made common cause with the Latin race as a whole, went from victory to victory. The Jews, making common cause with their Semitic neighbours, had for a time under David been triumphant, and might have been equally triumphant again. Really the dream of the Jew of absolute dominion was no midsummer madness, as it sometimes appears to us. What alone was wanting was union amongst themselves. Their varying fortunes might have been intended as an allegory or lesson of freewill, so completely did the future seem within their own volition. And in the supreme moment of their history they failed to be true to themselves. Not only did they utterly fail to conciliate rival neighbours and tribes, but dissension bitterer than ever divided them within. In Judas they had an asset as a general that counterbalanced the combination against them, and loyal to him they might have easily beaten off any attempts that Demetrius made against them. Instead, the Hellenists, led by one Alcimus, who had been High Priest, in their hate of Judas, sought Demetrius and begged him to help them in driving out this oppressor. Naturally Demetrius was only too delighted to comply. This accession of interest helped him to consilodate his crumbling kingdom. Judas, the terror of the land,

was as hated as dreaded. Against him a crusade was always popular, and Demetrius soon had under his command a large army with which to destroy this one serious menace to his power. In his first attempt he failed, and Judas, as ever, was triumphant. But this he follows up with a second attempt, and this time, fighting against terrific odds, Judas is killed. His end is worthy of his fame, and he dies only when overwhelmed by foes. His work is not entirely undone; his mantle is to fall on the shoulders of his brother Jonathan, but for awhile the disaster is irreparable, and the cause is to again sink into the lowest depths. But a great figure has trod the stage, and in Judas we have a national hero worthy of any race. And he is to be their idol. In later troubles it is of another such Judas that they fondly dream. And many a wild enthusiast is to emulate his deeds and involve all in a common destruction. A halo of romance is around him, which is to crystallize into the chief tenet of their faith. In his brief past is the base of all their hopes in years to come. In him, true successor of David and of Cyrus, is prototype of the Messiah who is yet again to arise and save them. And the deeper their misfortunes the profounder their belief and expectations. It was so little that had stood between him and the sweeping triumph of their people. Passionately they would recall those days, re-live those hours of lost opportunities. But it was not to be.

42. Again in local politics we find the key to the sudden change which takes place in their fortunes. Like Judas, Jonathan finds himself on the verge of destruction. He is on the very edge of the precipice

-one little push and all is over. And then, like Lysias, Demetrius has to meet a rival to his throne. Behind the scenes, pulling the strings, is the hand of Rome. A puppet king, a son or pretended son of Antiochus Epiphanes, Alexander by name, claims the kingdom, and Rome approves his claim. And Jonathan and his fierce following immediately become all-important

to both claimants. Probably we see in these Jews of the hills the finest soldiers of the time. The country round about Jerusalem was ever cradle of a perennial supply of magnificent peasant fighters and educated peasants. We are reaching times when their religion is to take much the form in which we see it in the days of our Lord, and it is highly likely that it is amongst these "elect" few that we must seek the germs of what it soon became. It needs little imagination to fill in the scene as, persecuted and proscribed, amongst their hills and fastnesses they engage in their religious exercises. And they learn to love them. It is not so much in their temple with its sacrifices and ceremonial as in their local synagogues-to-be, probably direct successors of these assemblings, that we are to find the religion which really swayed their lives. And it is the reading and exposition of the law with its immediate application to the affairs of everyday life which is their delight. It is one sustained appeal to the reason as distinct from the emotions, and is intensely practical. And they took their religion with them into their everyday life. And as soldiers they had to be reckoned with. And so Cromwell. How cope with the overwhelming courage and enthusiasm of the proud cavalier? This was his problem. Ordinary material was as chaff before them. And he sought and found success in a fierce piety that delighted in this same law.

And now to Demetrius and Alexander alike Jonathan has become all important. In the scramble for power the Hellenist party are not all valuable. They can be depended upon to shout with the winner, but hard blows are now wanted.

And we see the depth of extremity to which Demetrius had sunk by the way he courts Jonathan. He could not promise too much. He sent him letters

restoring to him all the privileges and powers that Judas had secured, with powers to levy troops and rebuild the city walls. And Alexander, no whit behind, wrote even more effusively. "We have heard

of thee that thou art a man of great power and meet to be our friend. Wherefore now this day we ordain thee to be the High Priest of thy nation, and to be called the king's friend; (and therewithal he sent him a purple robe and a crown of gold) and require thee to take our part and keep friendship with us." To this Demetrius rejoined by entirely freeing them from all allegiance whatever. So he promised to restore all the slaves taken captive during the recent wars, and offered to enrol thirty thousand Jews amongst the king's forces. There was no end to his gifts. The country of Samaria was to be joined to their government, and he gave Ptolemais in addition to bear the expenses of the sanctuary at Jerusalem. Also they were to have fifteen thousand shekels of silver out of the king's accounts. So Jerusalem was to be a sanctuary to protect all who fled there from any part of his dominions, and he agreed to pay the expenses for rebuilding the walls of the city. Yes, all important this clan of fierce soldiers had become to him as well as to his rival Alexander. And as said: If only Judas had been alive and they had been a united people! With him, another David or Sargon or Alexander, what the limit of their conquests and dominions? Their dream of dominion was no wild dream of a hashish-eater or dram-drinker, but was rooted in a very solid substratum of actual fact. However, the result was to prove their importance. Jonathan threw in his lot with Alexander, and Demetrius was vanquished and soon after killed. And Alexander honoured him yet more "and sent him a buckle of gold as the use is to be given to such as are of the king's blood."

We can realize the dismay these events struck into the hearts of the Hellenist party in Jerusalem. Their faction still held the tower that Antiochus had built and which frowned over the city, but they now hasten to make terms with Jonathan and to seek his goodwill. Their fortunes are at a low level. Those-and they *1 Maccabees x. 20.