Context No. 28 of 4322 · 1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees 15:32-41: in context

32Athenobius, the king’s friend, came to Jerusalem. When he saw the glory of Simon, the cupboard of gold and silver vessels, and his great attendance, he was amazed. He reported to him the king’s words. 33Simon answered, and said to him, “We have not taken other men’s land nor do we have possession of that which belongs to others, but of the inheritance of our fathers. However, it had been in possession of our enemies wrongfully for a while. 34But we, having opportunity, firmly hold the inheritance of our fathers. 35As for Joppa and Gazara, which you demand, they did great harm among the people throughout our country. We will give one hundred talents for them.” Athenobius didn’t answer even one word, 36but returned in a rage to the king, and reported to him these words, and the glory of Simon, and all that he had seen; and the king was exceedingly angry. 37Meanwhile, Tryphon embarked on board a ship, and fled to Orthosia. 38The king appointed Cendebaeus chief captain of the sea coast, and gave him troops of infantry and cavalry. 39He commanded him to encamp against Judea, and he commanded him to build up Kidron, and to fortify the gates, and that he should fight against the people; but the king pursued Tryphon. 40So Cendebaeus came to Jamnia and began to provoke the people, and to invade Judea, and to take the people captive and kill them. 41He built Kidron and stationed cavalry and infantry there, to the end that going out they might make raids on the highways of Judea, as the king had commanded him.

First Maccabees tells how a priestly family, the Maccabees, led a revolt against the Greek kings of Syria who had outlawed Jewish worship and defiled the temple. By this chapter the fighting has run through three brothers, and the last of them, Simon, governs an all but independent Judea. A new Seleucid king, Antiochus, has been courting Simon while he needed him, and now that his throne looks safe he sends an envoy, Athenobius, to demand the coastal towns of Joppa and Gazara back, or a thousand talents of silver.

Athenobius arrives, sees the gold and silver in Simon's house and the size of his court, and delivers the demand. Simon's answer is short. We have taken no one else's land, he says. This is the inheritance of our fathers, held wrongfully by our enemies for a time, and now that we have the chance, we hold it. Then he offers a hundred talents for the two towns anyway, a tenth of the sum demanded. The envoy leaves without a word and reports back, and the king is furious.

Simon concedes nothing about the right and still puts money on the table. He answers a demand backed by an army without either surrendering the claim or picking the fight. Where am I confusing holding my ground with refusing every compromise, when the two are not the same thing?

Sources

1 Maccabees 15:1-9: Antiochus VII's earlier letter confirming Simon's privileges, before the demand in this passage
Simon as the last of the Maccabee brothers and first of the Hasmonean rulers of Judea
Joppa and Gazara, the coastal and inland towns Simon had taken, and the thousand talents demanded for them