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[46]
When Jonathan had received this letter, he put on the pontifical
robe at the time of the feast of tabernacles, 1
four years after the death of his brother Judas, for at that time no high
priest had been made. So he raised great forces, and had abundance of armor
got ready. This greatly grieved Demetrius when he heard of it, and made
him blame himself for his slowness, that he had not prevented Alexander,
and got the good-will of Jonathan, but had given him time so to do. However,
he also himself wrote a letter to Jonathan, and to the people, the contents
whereof are these: "King Demetrius to Jonathan, and to the nation
of the Jews, sendeth greeting. Since you have preserved your friendship
for us, and when you have been tempted by our enemies, you have not joined
yourselves to them, I both commend you for this your fidelity, and exhort
you to continue in the same disposition, for which you shall be repaid,
and receive rewards from us; for I will free you from the greatest part
of the tributes and taxes which you formerly paid to the kings my predecessors,
and to myself; and I do now set you free from those tributes which you
have ever paid; and besides, I forgive you the tax upon salt, and the value
of the crowns which you used to offer to me 2
and instead of the third part of the fruits [of the field], and the half
of the fruits of the trees, I relinquish my part of them from this day:
and as to the poll-money, which ought to be given me for every head of
the inhabitants of Judea, and of the three toparchies that adjoin to Judea,
Samaria, and Galilee, and Peres, that I relinquish to you for this time,
and for all time to come. I will also that the city of Jerusalem be holy
and inviolable, and free from the tithe, and from the taxes, unto its utmost
bounds. And I so far recede from my title to the citadel, as to permit
Jonathan your high priest to possess it, that he may place such a garrison
in it as he approves of for fidelity and good-will to himself, that they
may keep it for us. I also make free all those Jews who have been made
captives and slaves in my kingdom. I also give order that the beasts of
the Jews be not pressed for our service; and let their sabbaths, and all
their festivals, and three days before each of them, be free from any imposition.
In the same manner, I set free the Jews that are inhabitants of my kingdom,
and order that no injury be done them. I also give leave to such of them
as are willing to list themselves in my army, that they may do it, and
those as far as thirty thousand; which Jewish soldiers, wheresoever they
go, shall have the same pay that my own army hath; and some of them I will
place in my garrisons, and some as guards about mine own body, and as rulers
over those that are in my court. I give them leave also to use the laws
of their forefathers, and to observe them; and I will that they have power
over the three toparchies that are added to Judea; and it shall be in the
power of the high priest to take care that no one Jew shall have any other
temple for worship but only that at Jerusalem. I bequeath also, out of
my own revenues, yearly, for the expenses about the sacrifices, one hundred
and fifty thousand [drachmae]; and what money is to spare, I will that
it shall be your own. I also release to you those ten thousand drachmae
which the kings received from the temple, because they appertain to the
priests that minister in that temple. And whosoever shall fly to the temple
at Jerusalem, or to the places thereto belonging, or who owe the king money,
or are there on any other account, let them be set free, and let their
goods be in safety. I also give you leave to repair and rebuild your temple,
and that all be done at my expenses. I also allow you to build the walls
of your city, and to erect high towers, and that they be erected at my
charge. And if there be any fortified town that would be convenient for
the Jewish country to have very strong, let it be so built at my expenses."
1 Since Jonathan plainly did not put on the pontifical robes till seven or eight years after the death of his brother Judas, or not till the feast of tabernacles, in the 160th of the Seleucidm, 1 Macc. 10;21, Petitus's emendation seems here to deserve consideration, who, instead of "after four years since the death of his brother Judas," would have us read, "and therefore after eight years since the death of his brother Judas." This would tolerably well agree with the date of the Maccabees, and with Josephus's own exact chronology at the end of the twentieth book of these Antiquities, which the present text cannot be made to do.
2 Take Grotius's note here: "The Jews," says he, "were wont to present crowns to the kings [of Syria]; afterwards that gold which was paid instead of those crowns, or which was expended in making them, was called the crown gold and crown tax." On 1 Macc. 10:29.
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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