Part 221 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration]

JERUSALEM

From an old photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.

This is a beautiful picture of a portion of that city which was so greatly beloved by the people of Judah.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{471}

”_King Demetrius unto Simon the high priest and Friend of kings, and unto the elders and nation of the Jews, greeting:_--

”The golden crown, and the palm branch, which ye sent, we have received: and we are ready to make a steadfast peace with you, yea, and to write unto our officers, to grant immunities unto you. And whatsoever things we confirmed unto you, they are confirmed; and the strongholds, which ye have builded, let them be your own. As for any oversights and faults committed unto this day, we forgive them, and the crown tax which ye owed us: and if there were any other toll exacted in Jerusalem, let it be exacted no longer. And if there be any among you meet to be enrolled in our court, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace betwixt us.”

In the hundred and seventieth year was the yoke of the heathen taken away from Israel. And the people began to write in their instruments and contracts, ”In the first year of Simon the great high priest and captain and leader of the Jews.”

XXVI.

_How the City of Gazara and the Citadel of Jerusalem Fell Into the Hands of Simon_.

(Gazara is the city called in the Old Testament Gaza. It has recently been excavated, and many ancient buildings have been dug up. One of them is thought to be the palace which Simon built.)

In those days he encamped against Gazara, and compa.s.sed it round about with armies; and he made an engine of siege, and brought it up to the city, and smote a tower, and took it. And they that were in the engine leaped forth into the city; and there was a great uproar in the {472} city: and they of the city rent their clothes, and went up on the walls with their wives and children, and cried with a loud voice, beseeching Simon to give them peace. And they said, ”Deal not with us according to our wickednesses, but according to thy mercy.”

And Simon was reconciled unto them, and did not fight against them: and he put them out of the city, and cleansed the houses wherein the idols were, and so entered into it with singing and giving praise. And he put all uncleanness out of it, and placed in it such men as would keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built therein a dwelling place for himself.

But they of the citadel in Jerusalem were hindered from going forth, and from going into the country, and from buying and selling; and they hungered exceedingly, and a great number of them perished through famine. And they cried out to Simon, that he should give them peace; and he gave it to them: and he put them out from thence, and he cleansed the citadel from its pollutions. And he entered into it on the three and twentieth day of the second month, in the hundred and seventy and first year, with praise and palm branches, and with harps, and with cymbals, and with viols, and with hymns, and with songs: because a great enemy was destroyed out of Israel.

And he ordained that they should keep that day every year with gladness. And the hill of the temple that was by the citadel he made stronger than before, and there he dwelt, himself and his men. And Simon saw that John his son was a valiant man, and he made him leader of all his forces: and he dwelt in Gazara.

{473}{474}

[Ill.u.s.tration]

ASCALON, ON THE Sh.o.r.e OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

From a photograph of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and used by special permission.

Here was once an important city on the low sandy coast without a harbor. It was captured by Jonathan in the Maccabean wars, and was an important city during the time of the Crusades.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

{475}

XXVII.

_How There Was Prosperity in the Land in the Days of Simon_.

And the land had rest all the days of Simon: and he sought the good of his nation; and his authority and his glory was well-pleasing to them all his days. And amid all his glory he took Joppa for a haven, and made it a port of entrance for the isles of the sea; and he enlarged the borders of his nation, and got possession of the country; and he gathered together a great number of captives, and got the dominion of Gazara, and Bethsura, and the citadel, and he took away from it its uncleannesses; and there was none that resisted him. And they tilled their land in peace, and the land gave her increase, and the trees of the plains their fruit. The ancient men sat in the streets, they communed all of them together of good things, and the young men put on glorious and warlike apparel. He provided victuals for the cities, and furnished them with all manner of munition, until the name of his glory was named unto the end of the earth. He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy: and they sat each man under his vine and his fig tree, and there was none to make them afraid: and there ceased in the land any that fought against them: and the kings were discomfited in those days. And he strengthened all those of his people that were brought low: the law he searched out, and every lawless and wicked person he took away. He glorified the sanctuary, and the vessels of the temple he multiplied.

{476}