Simon Plots against Onias

1I have already told you that Simon caused a lot of trouble for our country by telling Apollonius about the money in the temple. Then later, Simon lied and blamed Onias for the attack on Heliodorus and for all the terrible things that happened.

2Simon even dared to claim that Onias was plotting against the government, although everyone knew that Onias had been generous to Jerusalem and that he had protected our nation and had been in favor of its laws. 3Simon hated Onias so much that he had even hired some men to commit murders.

4Apollonius, the governor of Southwest Syria Province, started encouraging Simon with his evil plans. Finally, Onias understood that his life was in danger, 5and he asked King Seleucus for help. Onias did not want to bring charges against other Jews. He only hoped to find ways of privately and publicly doing good for the entire nation. 6But he knew that he needed the king's help to bring peace to the country and to bring Simon to his senses.

Jason Becomes High Priest

7 After the death of King Seleucus, Antiochus Epiphanes became ruler. Shortly afterwards, Jason, the brother of Onias, became high priest by bribery. 8Jason went to the king and promised him 360,000 silver coins from one of his accounts and 80,000 from another. 9He also agreed to pay 150,000 silver coins for permission to do two things. He wanted to make the Jews in Jerusalem citizens of Antioch, and he wanted to build a place where young Jewish men could exercise and have organized sports.

Jason Forces the Jews To Live Like Greeks

10King Antiochus gave Jason everything he wanted. But no sooner had Jason become high priest than he began forcing Jews to live like Greeks. 11 He did away with our rights that John, the father of Eupolemus, had received from former kings. Eupolemus was the messenger who later went to the Romans and made them our friends and allies.

Jason put an end to our Jewish way of life and taught new customs that went against our laws. 12 He eagerly built the place for exercise and sports near the temple. Then he ordered our finest young men to take part in activities there.

13Jason was so terribly evil that he did not deserve to be high priest. In fact, it was his fault that our people began to adopt the foreign customs that came with the Greek way of life. 14Even our priests gave up worshiping at the altar. They cared nothing about the temple, and they neglected offering sacrifices. And when the signal was given, they hurried off to take part in games that were against our teachings. 15They sneered at the values our ancestors had prized, and their only goal in life was to receive Greek honors.

16This love of the Greek way of life caused the downfall of our country, when these foreign rulers became our enemies and punished our nation. They did this, even though many Jews liked and tried to follow their way of life. 17When people disobey God's Law, they are taking a big risk, as the following events will show.

Jason and the Greeks

18King Antiochus attended a sports festival that was held once every four years in the city of Tyre. While he was there, 19that evil Jason sent some messengers from Jerusalem to Tyre with 300 silver coins for a sacrifice to the god Hercules.

Although these messengers were honorary citizens of Antioch, they knew it was wrong to pay for a sacrifice to Hercules with the silver. So they decided instead 20to give the money for building warships.

21About this same time, Antiochus sent Apollonius to Egypt, so that Apollonius could attend the crowning of King Philometor. When Antiochus learned that Philometor had become his enemy, he took actions to protect his kingdom. Then Antiochus left for Jerusalem, passing through the town of Joppa on the way. 22In Jerusalem, Jason and a cheering crowd with torches gave him a glorious welcome. From Jerusalem, Antiochus led his army to Phoenicia.

Menelaus Becomes High Priest

23Three years later, Jason sent a man by the name of Menelaus to King Antiochus with money in order to do some important business. Menelaus was the brother of the Simon who was mentioned earlier. 24Menelaus was introduced to the king and tried to impress him by acting like a powerful official. Then he bought the position of high priest by offering the king 300,000 silver coins more than Jason had offered.

25When Menelaus returned to Jerusalem, he carried papers from the king, saying he was the new high priest. But he was completely unfit for the job--he was cruel and had a violent temper worse than any wild animal.

26Jason had earlier cheated his brother Onias out of the position of high priest. And now someone was cheating him out of being high priest, and he had to run to the Ammonites for his own safety.

27Menelaus continued as high priest, though he never paid any of the money he had promised Antiochus. 28He was asked many times for it by an official named Sostratus, who commanded the enemy fortress in Jerusalem, and whose duty it was to collect the king's money.

Finally, the king ordered both men to come to him and discuss the matter. 29Menelaus let his brother Lysimachus act as high priest while he was away. Sostratus assigned his responsibilities to Crates, the commander of the soldiers from Cyprus.

Onias Is Murdered

30About this time, King Antiochus gave the cities of Tarsus and Mallus to his lover Antiochis. But the cities rebelled, 31and the king hurried off to put down the revolt, leaving a senior official named Andronicus in charge of the kingdom.

32Menelaus now saw his chance to steal some gold dishes from the temple, and he did it. Then he gave the dishes to Andronicus. Earlier, he had also taken gold dishes from the temple and sold them to the people of Tyre and of other nearby cities. 33Onias found out what had happened and ran for safety to a temple at Daphne, not far from the city of Antioch. There he started publicly accusing Menelaus.

34 Shortly after this, Menelaus met privately with Andronicus and persuaded him to kill Onias. So Andronicus went to the temple and warmly greeted Onias. Then he lied to Onias by shaking his right hand and promising to treat him with kindness. Onias didn't really trust Andronicus, but Andronicus talked him into leaving his place of safety in the temple. Then without any regard for the Law, Andronicus murdered him on the spot.

The King Punishes Andronicus

35Our people were shocked and outraged by this violent murder, and so were many from other nations. 36When King Antiochus returned from Cilicia, the Jews in Antioch asked him to do something about this senseless crime. Many Greeks also told the king how much they despised this brutal murder.

37The king cried and grieved terribly as he thought about Onias, a man of common sense and self-control. 38Then he became furious and tore off Andronicus' clothes, including his royal robe. He made Andronicus walk naked through the whole city until they reached the place where Andronicus had murdered Onias. Right then and there, the king had this butcher put to death.

This was how the Lord gave Andronicus the punishment he deserved.

Lysimachus Is Killed

39In the meantime, Menelaus had been helping his brother Lysimachus rob the Jerusalem temple of its gold dishes and other sacred objects. News of these crimes spread, and a crowd got together to complain about Lysimachus. 40But since this crowd was turning into an angry mob, Lysimachus handed out swords to about three thousand followers. He put a foolish old man named Auranus in command of this force, then ordered a brutal attack.

41Our people saw Lysimachus and his troops running toward them. So they immediately picked up rocks, as well as handfuls of ashes and chunks of wood. They threw them wildly at the attackers, 42wounding many and killing a few, while the rest ran away. The temple robber Lysimachus was killed not far from the temple treasury.

Menelaus Is Set Free

43Because of what had happened, Menelaus was charged with serious crimes 44and put on trial in the city of Tyre when King Antiochus arrived there. The Jerusalem council sent three messengers, who testified against him.

45When Menelaus realized he was going to be punished, he offered a huge bribe to the king's friend Ptolemy, because he wanted Ptolemy to influence the king to say he was innocent. 46So Ptolemy took Antiochus out on a porch, saying they needed a breath of fresh air. He convinced Antiochus to change his mind 47 and to drop the charges against Menelaus, the cause of the trouble.

Afterwards, Antiochus sentenced the three messengers to death. Even the cruelest judge would have freed those men, 48but Antiochus had them quickly and wrongfully killed. He did this because they had spoken in behalf of Jerusalem, its people, and the sacred dishes that had been stolen.

49The citizens of Tyre were so disgusted by the murder of these three men that they honored them with elaborate funerals. 50But because our rulers were greedy, Menelaus was allowed to continue as high priest. He grew so cruel that we considered him our worst enemy.